Bill Allowing for Capped Contingency Fee Died in LA House of Representatives …. However, There is Hope—See “The Great BP Coffee Spill” Video.
In our May 29, 2010 post, we did report on some contingency attorney fee caps that were making it difficult to respond to the BP spill incident. Louisiana is ensnarled in the same problem, only even magnified in nature.
There was a bill drifting its way into possible legislation in Louisiana that would have allowed its attorney general to hire private attorneys on a contingency fee basis to sue BP for the oil spill incident. This was significant because Louisiana and Wisconsin are two states that do not allow attorney generals to hire any attorneys on a contingency basis. The bill would have allowed the attorney general to enter into contingency fee agreements for cases, but capped any fee recovery to $100 million. That version passed the Senate, but the House wanted to limit the version to the BP spill. Time ran out for the House to vote on the Senate version, so there you go. (For more on this story, see John O’Brien’s June 22, 2010 post “Time runs out on twice-changed La. contingency bill,” which can be read at LegalNewsline.com.)
However, let’s have a little humor. If you want some humorous commentary on the BP spill, see UCB Comedy’s spoof “The Great BP Coffee Spill” (YouTube), which can be viewed at http://www.wikio.com/video/bp-spills-coffee-3436161. I could italicize “coffee,” but you probably get our drift (another bad oil spill pun).
BP Coffee Spill