As Amended by House Committee
Session of 2000
HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 6012
By Committee on Taxation
3-2
11 A RESOLUTION
requiring the Attorney General to prosecute an action
12 to determine the
reasonableness of attorney fees awarded to the local
13 outside counsel in the
national tobacco settlement case.
14
15 WHEREAS, The
Committee on Taxation received testimony con-
16 cerning the employment of local outside
counsel to represent the State
17 of Kansas in litigation against the tobacco
companies; and
18 WHEREAS, The
Committee heard testimony that if another law firm
19 had been employed, Kansas may have received
a greater amount of rev-
20 enue from the National Tobacco Settlement;
and
21 WHEREAS,
According to the order issued by the Tobacco Settlement
22 Arbitration Panel that rewarded $27,000,000
to Kansas local outside
23 counsel, ``The role of National Counsel in
this state was very prominent
24 and active,'' ``that there was more work
spent by National Counsel in
25 Kansas than in several other states,'' and
the National Counsel ``provided
26 most of the personnel power and resources
for the Kansas effort''; and
27 WHEREAS, There
was limited litigation in Kansas, and in fact, ac-
28 cording to the order of the Tobacco
Settlement Arbitration Panel, ``There
29 was no ruling on the industry's motion to
dismiss, there was no discovery,
30 no expert designations, no depositions and
no trial date was set''; and
31 WHEREAS, Rule
1.5 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as
32 adopted by rule of the Kansas Supreme Court
requires that any fee
33 charged by a Kansas lawyer be reasonable
and subject to judicial review;
34 and
35 WHEREAS, The
contract entered into by the State of Kansas and
36 local outside counsel is also subject to
such rule; and
37 WHEREAS, The fee
received by local outside counsel in the amount
38 of $27,000,000 is unreasonable in light of
the lack of expertise and effort
39 by such counsel, and the result obtained
thereby: Now, therefore,
40 Be it resolved by
the House of Representatives:
41 (1) That in
accordance with K.S.A. 75-702 the Attorney General
be
42 is hereby directed to bring an
action in the Shawnee County District
43 Court an appropriate
forum seeking judicial review pursuant to
MRPC
2
1 1.5 as to the reasonableness of the
attorney fees awarded to the local
2 outside counsel;
3
(2) That the Attorney General obtain a copy of the
transcript and
4 briefs submitted to the Tobacco
Settlement Arbitration Panel and submit
5 such evidence to the
court forum or seek a subpoena from the
court
6 forum directing production of
the same;
7 (3) That
the Attorney General submit to the court
forum as evidence
8 the entire record of the proceedings
of the House Committee on Taxation
9 occurring from February 14, 1999,
through February 17, 1999;
10 (4) That an
order be sought that all evidence submitted to the
court
11 forum in such action shall be made
available for review by any member
12 of the legislative coordinating council,
and the chairperson, vice-chair-
13 person and ranking minority member of the
Committee on Taxation;
14 (5) That the
Attorney General, in the event that a conflict appears
15 with respect to paragraph (1), shall hire
special counsel who will aggres-
16 sively pursue on behalf of the client, the
State of Kansas, that the award
17 of $27,000,000 for work done on the tobacco
case by the local outside
18 counsel is unreasonable and a violation of
MRPC 1.5; and
19 (6) That, in the
event any amount of such fee is declared to be un-
20 reasonable and excessive, the Attorney
General shall seek from the court
21 forum an order providing that upon
receipt, such amount shall be re-
22 mitted by the local outside counsel to the
state treasurer who shall deposit
23 the entire amount thereof in the state
treasury to the credit of the chil-
24 dren's initiatives fund; and
25 Be it further
resolved: That the chief clerk of the House of Repre-
26 sentatives be directed to provide an
enrolled copy of this resolution to
27 the Attorney General.