More than $140 million in attorneys fees has been outlined for distribution after West Virginia’s blockbuster opioid litigation.
The financial stakes are enormous.
Two firms, national Motley Rice and local Webb Law Centre, which served as outside counsel to the state Attorney General, are in line for $41.65 million for representing the state as a whole. The firms are in line for even more than that because they also represented cities and counties, but they are subject to a cap in state code limiting their entire compensation to no more than $50 million.
Beyond that, the lead firms representing cities and counties are recommended for the biggest payouts from a pot of money representing shared legal work: $22.5 million to Fitzsimmons Law Firm of Wheeling and $20 million to Farrell Fuller of Huntington and Powell Majestro of Charleston. Those amounts are in addition to specific contingency fees the firms will get from representing local governments.
More West Virginia law firms will also be compensated significantly for their work on the mass opioid litigation.
Chris Wilkes, a retired judge from the Eastern Panhandle, has been serving as common benefit fund manager in West Virginia’s mass opioid litigation, which he described as “arguably the largest and most complex legal undertaking in the history of West Virginia jurisprudence.”
Wilkes filed a 31-page explanation of final recommendations for attorney compensation this week, noting that the judgment “is not an exact science.”
In making some of the determinations, Wilkes wrote that he considered the length of each firm’s involvement in the case, whether attorneys in the firms performed a leadership role, the experience and quality of the lawyers performing the work and to what extent each firm advanced expenses to fund the litigation.
He concluded that the compensation is deserved “after considering the unique and significant results achieved through the creation of a statewide litigation settlement that far exceeded national settlements, together with the quality of the work performed for the common benefit, the complexity of the legal and factual issues implicated in this litigation, the skill and commitment of the lawyers, and the benefit conferred.”
West Virginia was hit hard by opioid addiction that resulted in the state experiencing one of the largest increases in overdose deaths in the country.
The state, along with nearly every county and city throughout West Virginia, filed lawsuits against entities they alleged to be responsible. The targets of the lawsuits included manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies that distributed and/or dispensed prescription opioids.
The results of the lawsuits brought in $940,386,000.
“These results were achieved through the enormous efforts of the lawyers who undertook the significant risk and workload in prosecuting these claims, and who performed extraordinary work to prepare these cases for trial and conclusion,” Wilkes wrote.
As Wilkes determined how much of that full amount should go to the attorneys who carried out the litigation, much of the work is math carried out backwards.
First, an attorney fee fund is being established, amounting to about 15 percent of the $940 million total.
So the attorney fee fund would wind up being $141 million.
Wilkes wrote that he “believes this amount strikes an appropriate and careful balance between the unparalleled complexities and high-risk involved in this litigation while ensuring that sufficient funds are available to address and abate the opioid crisis in our State.”
From that amount, he recommends $13 million be set aside to reimburse litigation expenses.
What’s left at that point is $128 million.
From there, Wilkes recommends allocating $35,215,922 (27.5 percent) toward contingency fees for attorneys representing local governments.
Generally, that amount would be divided as a ratio of their client’s local government share percentage of the overall settlements. So, the bigger the share of the local government you represent, the more your share would be.
Then $92,841,977 (72.5 percent) remained available for common benefit fees and for the fees for outside counsel representing the state through the Attorney General’s Office.
Subtracting the $41.65 million owed to the Attorney General’s outside counsel firms — Motley Rice and Webb Law Centre — from the $92,841,977 pot leaves $51,186,927.50.
Wilkes recommends using that $51 million for common benefit fees for the other legal teams involved with city and county claims. Common benefit fees refer to legal work for the benefit of the entire group.
Wilkes acknowledged there’s no exact science for who deserves what, but he tried to lay out some guidelines to explain his approach. Wilkes noted that he witnessed much of the legal work firsthand in the courtroom and also spoke with some attorneys who wanted to talk about the allocations.
He also wrote that he took into account the nature, quantity, and duration of the work performed; the identity of the attorneys performing the work and their respective experience and abilities; and whether and to what extent the work contributed to the overall common benefit of the West Virginia local governments and the state.
“The Commissioner recognizes that a large portion of the 72.5% portion of the Attorney Fee Fund for the Attorney General’s outside counsel’s contingency and common benefit fees is being paid to those law firms who were appointed and served as lead trial counsel,” Wilkes wrote.
Of the common benefit fees portion of his recommendation, here’s the breakdown:
• Allen, Chesson & Grimes: $50,000
• Chafin Law Firm: $850,000
• Farrell Fuller / Powell Majestro: $20,150,000
• Fitzsimmons Law Firm: $22,500,000
• Forbes Law Firm: $15,000
• George & Lorenson: $25,000
• Harry Bell: $25,000
• Harris & Holmes: $1,000,000
• Irpino, Avin & Hawkins: $2,000,000
• Linkous Law: $1,850,000
• Lisa Ford: $46,927.50
• Mullens & Mullens: $100,000
• Morgan & Morgan: $500,000
• Napoli Shkolnik: $1,250,000
• Robert L. White: $25,000
• Skinner Law Firm: $250,000
• Troy Law Firm: $25,000
• Warner Law Offices: $25,000
• Warren McGraw Law Firm: $250,000
• Wooton, Davis, Hussell & Johnson: $250,000