GUEST EDITORIAL: BUSTING THE FEE BONANZA

The Missouri Supreme Court has opened the way for the Missouri Legislature to cancel the big payday that a few politically connected lawyers expected at the end of the settlement of the lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Judge Ronnie White, writing for a unanimous court, ruled that the lawyers' fees must be approved by their clients: the people of Missouri. That means that the legislature, on behalf of the people, could reject the fees during the next year. If the legislature doesn't act, the lawyers could get about $100 million.

The decision is a defeat for Attorney General Jay Nixon, who argued that he had the power to approve the fees. Nixon now says that the only alternative to the fee deal is for the legislature to pay the lawyers out of state money. But the legislature can simply reject that deal and force it to be renegotiated. State Sen. Peter Kinder, likely to become leader of the Missouri Senate in January, has vowed to do just that.

Nixon has maintained that the Big Tobacco case was too big for his office to handle alone and that appointing outside lawyers was the most efficient way to a settlement. But the legal work became a political gravy train. Nixon chose Tom Strong, a highly respected and well-connected Springfield lawyer, to head Missouri's case. Strong hired on other lawyers, including Edward "Chip" Robertson, a Republican former chief judge of the state Supreme Court, and Freeman Bosley Jr., the former Democratic mayor of St. Louis. Nixon says politics had nothing to do with those choices. But the five law firms hired onto the case donated more than $500,000 to political candidates -- including $94,000 to Nixon -- and to parties -- mostly Democrats -- over eight years.

The lawyers could get many times that in fees. If the legislature doesn't reject the fee arrangement, an arbitration panel will decide on the fees.

Judging from their awards in other states -- the lawyers in Illinois got $110 million -- Missouri lawyers should get something in the nine-figure range. That would mean some of the lawyers here could get thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars per hour for their time. Nice work if you can get it.

Five of the seven Missouri Supreme Court judges had to recuse themselves in the tobacco settlement case, leaving only Judges White and Michael Wolff. Judge White took the unusual step of appointing four African-American judges among the five stand-ins, the first time a Missouri appellate court had a black majority. The court's decision was admirably independent, fending off attempts by various interests to intervene and clearing the way for Missouri to get its $6.7 billion share of the settlement.

But the kicker was the ruling on attorneys' fees, based on a fundamental principle of legal ethics. A lawyer can accept payment of a fee by the opposing side, but only if his own client agrees. The logic is simple: If you get $100,000 in a case, but your lawyer is paid $500,000 by the person you sued, you could legitimately wonder whose interest the lawyer was looking after. Nixon has maintained he had to find lawyers "brave enough" to take on Big Tobacco. Now we'll see if the legislature is brave enough to take on the lawyers.