After a federal judge questioned the hefty payout that a law firm would receive from the city's approximately $575 million settlement for sick 9/11 responders, the Daily News reports the law firm "grudgingly agreed to forgo $85 million in legal fees." Apparently Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern told judge Alvin Hellerstein that it was willing to accept 20%—instead of 30%—for $115 million. How generous?
Just because they could still make a nine-figure fee doesn't mean the lawyers happy. In the letter to Hellerstein, the firm, which represents a great majority of the plaintiffs, stated, "Our fees will be reduced under this court's insistence that it would limit those fees to an even greater degree than we have voluntarily agreed to do. We have ...been influenced by the truly disheartening pressures visited upon us by the media and our own clients, both of whom seem to believe that we should have simply donated our time for these past seven years."
Previously Hellerstein stated his discomfort with the settlement, calling it too small for many plaintiffs (average settlement for many might just be $3,200-9,750) and noting, "Every plaintiff here is burdened by a lawyer's fee that is hard to gauge and will take a large bite out of every [settlement]," even suggesting that the city pay the legal fees. His views have pleased plaintiffs, but the city is also irritated—it wants to settle the claims—and says it will appeal his rulings.
