Comments on: More on the Exxon Valdez punitive damages story

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:24:52 +0000

It would seem reasonable to me for the plaintiffs’ counsel to get a much lower share of the portion of the award that constitutes punitive damages, since presumably that part of the judgment required significantly less work than the underlying finding of liability.

By: TC

TC — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:19:02 +0000

Well at least we all know why fuel is $3 a gallon eh?

BTW; hasn’t Exxon already cleaned and polished every rock on the Alaskan shoreline? Buffed the birds, skinned the seals and plucked all sorts of birds as well?

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 23:02:26 +0000

I actually agree with Justinian here. We’re missing the critical variables of how many hours the lawyers legitimately put into the case (with some deductions for the inevitable redundancies caused by having 62 law firms work on the case), especially given that several hundred million dollars was achievable without any work. If the lawyers are getting several times market rates, then the award is objectionable, but one can’t simply divide one number into two other numbers and come to any conclusions. If Faegre were to hire twenty new real estate partners, their partnership shares would decline, but it wouldn’t make the law firm any more over- or underpaid.

It’s doubtful that Faegre is dividing that money equally amongst its partners. Newer partners probably are entitled to a smaller share than the ones who were with the firm longer while it was carrying a case that hadn’t yet generated any revenue. The associates who were working on the case were getting a salary.

One could be more confident that the lawyers were being fairly paid if there was a market mechanism — or even a simulation of a market mechanism, such as a competitive bidding — to select the attorneys.

22.5% isn’t at all low for a case of this size, especially when the first few hundred million of the award is all but assured.

By: Justinian Lane

Justinian Lane — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 22:44:44 +0000

If there were fewer plaintiffs than lawyers, no – it wouldn’t be fair. But considering the number of plaintiffs, I think it’s fair.

Another nice number to have would be the amount of money the plaintiffs’ lawyers sunk into this case out of their own pockets.