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9/11
See other 9/11 Articles

Title: Judge Overturns Accords in 4 Suits by 9/11 Victims
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/n ... slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Published: Jul 25, 2008
Author: BENJAMIN WEISER
Post Date: 2008-07-26 22:17:57 by angle
Keywords: None
Views: 63
Comments: 1

A federal judge in Manhattan took the unusual step on Thursday of overturning settlements in four lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying the firm that negotiated the deals was seeking excessive legal fees and that the settlement amounts themselves were unreasonable.

The judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein of United States District Court, sharply criticized the firm, Azrael, Gann & Franz, of Maryland, saying its request for 25 percent of $28.5 million it had recovered “would reflect a very large windfall,” and that its “entire strategy seems to have been to coast on the work of others.”

The four cases were among the last remaining suits being settled on behalf of 95 people killed or injured in the crashes of the four planes into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and the field in Shanksville, Pa., in 2001.

Judge Hellerstein wrote that the Azrael firm appeared, as part of its strategy, to have decided to wait until very late in the litigation before entering into meaningful settlement talks.

“Azrael’s strategy made little contribution to the progress of the cases before me,” and was “now an affront to the hard work that others contributed,” the judge wrote.

The lawsuits represented only a small number of the 9/11 victims, whose claims in most cases were resolved through payments from a government compensation fund that paid $7 billion to families of those killed or injured in the attacks, according to the fund’s 2004 report.

The judge noted that 15 law firms had handled the lawsuits. He said he had taken steps, like limiting contingency fees to 15 percent and requiring judicial approval of settlements, to make sure they were fair.

He also said that there should be no advantage to being late or early in the settlement process.

A spokesman for the Azrael firm did not respond to messages seeking comment. Judge Hellerstein noted that the firm claimed it had done “outstanding work” to earn the fee, and had produced higher settlements. The firm also argued that because the settlement proceedings were confidential, “no one will know about a higher fee award,” the judge wrote.

The four settlements ranged from $5.5 to $8 million, the judge said, and all involved what he described as “modest wage earners at the Pentagon.” He called the settlement amounts “disproportionately large” when compared with similar cases, and noted that a 25 percent fee would have yielded just over $7 million.

The judge said that he made an exception for one firm, Motley Rice, which received 20 percent in three of its cases, because it had done more work, and had prepared those cases for trial. (None ended up being tried.)

Donald A. Migliori, a partner at Motley Rice and co-liaison counsel for the wrongful-death and personal injury claims, said he was concerned about the overturning of the four settlements, when they “were agreed to by all parties to be fair and reasonable.”

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#1. To: angle (#0)

From Wikipedia:

Alvin Hellerstein was the co-head of the Litigation Department at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. He received his LL.B. from Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of the Columbia Law Review, and served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1959 to 1960.

9/11 Families Lose Bid to Search for Remains

9/11 Suit Tests New York Stand on Immunity

federal judge heard oral arguments yesterday on the city's motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought on behalf of more than 8,000 firefighters, police officers and construction workers who say they were harmed by exposure to toxic substances while working at ground zero.

The city's lawyers have argued that the city cannot be sued because it has legal immunity under a state civil defense law.

During the hearing, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of United States District Court in Manhattan focused on how long after Sept. 11 the legal immunity claimed by the city lasted and whether the $1 billion federal insurance fund that has been set aside to cover such claims against the city could be considered evidence that it could, in fact, be sued.

Whitman Defends Finding on Air After 9/11 query.nytimes.com/gst/ful...63EF937A35751C0A9609C8B63

Christie Whitman, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, yesterday rejected as ''completely inaccurate'' a ruling by a federal judge that found she had misled people near the World Trade Center site about the risks of toxic air contamination after the Sept. 11 attack.

In a statement, Mrs. Whitman disputed the ruling on Thursday by Judge Deborah A. Batts of Federal District Court in Manhattan. Judge Batts decided not to dismiss a class-action suit against Mrs. Whitman and the E.P.A. on behalf of residents and schoolchildren from the area near ground zero, finding that Mrs. Whitman had falsely reassured them in the days after the attack that the air was not dangerously polluted. Judge Batts concluded that Mrs. Whitman was not entitled to immunity as a government official.

''I firmly believe that the agency's findings that the air quality was safe were correct,'' Mrs. Whitman said. ''Every action taken by the E.P.A. during the response to this horrific event was designed to provide the most comprehensive protection and the most accurate information to the residents of Manhattan.''

In an unusual coincidence, another judge in the same courthouse issued a ruling on the same day as Judge Batts's decision in a separate but almost identical case against Mrs. Whitman and the agency -- and he reached the opposite conclusion.

After a hearing late Thursday, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dismissed the suit in his court, accepting virtually the same arguments by Justice Department lawyers that Judge Batts had rejected. Judge Hellerstein was convinced that Mrs. Whitman should be immune.

We cannot afford peace at any price. - Newt Gingrich, May 29, 1998

rack42  posted on  2008-07-26   23:31:57 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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