La. lawmaker denies deliberate killing of fee bill

By MELINDA DESLATTE

BATON ROUGE, La.

Louisiana House Speaker Jim Tucker said Tuesday that last-minute haggling over a bill to let the attorney general use contingency fee contracts for oil spill litigation wasn't designed to kill the bill, as Senate President Joel Chaisson contends.

The issue sharply divided the two chambers, with no resolution as the legislative session ended a day earlier. As the clock wound down and the bill's fate became clear, Chaisson embarked on a fiery speech lambasting the House and business lobbyists for jettisoning the measure.

"The fact that the president would say we delayed this deal ... is nothing short of balderdash. It's just rubbish," said Tucker, R-Terrytown. "And for us to be accused of trying to stifle this is just wrong."

The proposal would have allowed law firms hired by the state to sue BP PLC or other companies over the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill to get a percentage of the damage award instead of an hourly rate.

Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has argued he needs the ability to hire outside lawyers on contingency to get the best representation for the state. Chaisson, D-Destrehan, a lawyer, said failure to pass the bill puts Louisiana at a disadvantage to all other Gulf Coast states that can use contingency fee contracts.

With the bill dead, Caldwell's office, the Jindal administration and lawmakers were considering ways to funnel more money to the attorney general to help him cover the hourly fees involved in litigating such a complex case. Caldwell estimated he would need up to $100 million to pay for the costs of the oil spill lawsuit.

"We will find the money. I'm not concerned about the finding the $100 million, even in these tough budget years," Tucker said.

Told of the comment after a session in which budget troubles were a top concern, Chaisson said, "That's amazing that he would say that."

Chaisson said he was going to ask Gov. Bobby Jindal to call a special session to reconsider the issue. Jindal had supported the contingency fee measure, but when asked if he would consider a special session, he said it was too soon to determine a next step.

Chaisson accused Tucker and House Commerce Committee Chairman Tim Burns of repeated delays to run out the clock on the session without a vote on the proposal, calling the men subservient to "big oil and big business."

"They were doing everything they could to delay this bill so there wouldn't be a vote," Chaisson said Tuesday, arguing that each proposed change in the negotiations was run by business lobbyists on the House side.

Business interests generally oppose legislation allowing contingency contracts, arguing the arrangements let lawyers get too big a share of money that should be going to the state and claiming the contracts encourage more lawsuits because of the huge potential payoffs.

Tucker said Chaisson made a tactical error in waiting until late in the final day to try to work out an agreement and in starting negotiations with a proposal completely different than what the House wanted.

"It became a greedy bill, and we were not going to pass a greedy bill because that was not what was in the best interest of the people of this state," Tucker said.

Chaisson said he agreed to several provisions sought by the House to address their concerns about the payouts possible to attorneys under the bill.

As originally proposed and passed by the Senate, Caldwell would have been given the authority to use contingency fee contracts to hire outside lawyers in a large range of cases, but the House limited the bill only to the oil spill. As it emerged on the final day, the contingency payments also would have been capped at $100 million for the case.