Court's tobacco choice costs Missourians

The Missouri Supreme Court's failure to hear the case on lawyers' fees in the state's settlement with Big Tobacco wasn't only disappointing, it may have lost the court its chance to set important precedents regarding who should be given the responsibility in matters of state government.

The decision came last week without comment, suddenly ending a five-year battle over whether the private lawyers appointed in the 11th hour to oversee Missouri's interests in its tobacco settlement actually deserved $111.25 million for their work.

It was the second case aimed at taking away this unfair payoff. State Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau was a plaintiff, along with fellow Republican Rickey Jamerson of St. Louis, in an initial case that went to the Missouri Supreme Court in 2000. It challenged Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's authority to shift a vital part of his job onto political allies.

The court said in cases where a client's attorney fees are being paid by the party being sued, the client must agree to any fee arrangement. The state was the client in this case, so the General Assembly could have chosen to reject any fee arrangement in the $4.5 billion settlement to be paid over 25 years.

Kinder was somewhat satisfied with the ruling because it took the power of approving such an arrangement away from the attorney general and gave it to the legislature. The judges set a 2001 deadline for the legislature to reject the fee arrangement, but Kinder was unsuccessful in getting a measure through.

The next approach was laid out in a lawsuit filed by Jamerson and Sherry Neel, described in news reports as a taxpayer and smoker. In that case, the plaintiffs claimed that lead tobacco attorney Thomas Strong of Springfield and the other members of his team were essentially assistant attorneys general while representing the state and should have been paid the same rate as any others. Nixon's assistants make from $30,000 to $97,000 a year.

However, a St. Louis County circuit judge rejected that claim, as did the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District in March. In upholding the circuit court's finding, the eastern district panel said the tobacco attorneys were "special assistant attorneys general" not subject to same limitations as lawyers on the state payroll. That ruling stands because of the Missouri Supreme Court's decision.

The most frustrating aspects of these rulings is how they ignore what is at the heart of the issue.

In the late 1990s, Big Tobacco was handing out settlements to any state that stepped up and asked. The proof had been put out there: Those companies misled the public, and states were stuck with billions of dollars in medical care for smokers over the years.

It didn't take an astute legal mind to stand in line for the handout that was coming. It certainly didn't take lawyers worth $111.25 million to handle the matter.

Missourians have seen state programs cut in the last year due to the budget crisis. That money could be used to restore some of them.

Now it's gone.