Santa Monica Settles Lawyer Dispute

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The Santa Monica City Council signed off on a $55 million settlement Wednesday with several former attorneys who claimed the city failed to pay them contingency fees.


The settlement ends four years of litigation with attorneys from Dallas-based Baron & Budd P.C., San Francisco-based Sher Leff LLP and Sacramento-based Miller, Axline & Sawyer.


The city sued the attorneys in 2004 in an attempt to invalidate a contingency-fee contract negotiated by the city attorney and approved by the City Council.

Bingham McCutchen LLP partners’ Roland Tellis and Marshall Grossman represented the three different law firms in the settlement. Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP partners Franklin Brockway Gowdy and Andrea Ordin represented the city of Santa Monica alongside city attorney Marsha Moutrie.


In 2002, the attorneys recovered $252 million from several oil companies, including $120 million in cash and a $130 million water-treatment facility. Santa Monica officials originally retained the three different firms on a contingency fee basis after discovering the drinking water supply was contaminated with the petroleum additive methyl tertiary butyl ether.


“The settlement means our clients are finally vindicated for the excellent legal work they performed for the city. They obtained a landmark victory and they are finally being paid for that work,” Tellis said.

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