|  | | 2007 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
UnitedHealth Wants to Know Pay Plan for Bill Lerach
Joshua Freed - The Associated Press
Law.com. December 18, 2007
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EXCERPT: Convicted class action attorney Bill Lerach is no longer working on the lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group. But will he be paid anyway? UnitedHealth attorneys want Lerach's former firm to say whether he will profit from any eventual verdict in the shareholder lawsuit over UnitedHealth's backdated stock options. It's not an idle question. Lerach stands to personally receive some $50 million from the $7 billion payout in a shareholder class action he led against Enron, The Wall Street Journal reported last month, citing anonymous sources. A federal judge in Texas is weighing whether to award nearly $700 million in attorney fees in that case. In court on Monday, attorneys for UnitedHealth referred to Lerach's reported Enron payout as they pressed U.S. Magistrate Franklin L. Noel to order Lerach's former firm, San Diego-based Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, to disclose its billing arrangements. "If a convicted felon is litigating this matter, that's of interest to the defendants, and it's certainly of interest to the court," UnitedHealth attorney Katie C. Pfeifer told Noel. Coughlin Stoia attorney Andrew Brown said in court that Lerach does not have any say in the case. The firm formally withdrew his name from the case on Dec. 4. Asked by Noel whether Lerach still has a financial interest in the case's outcome, Brown replied, "I don't know." Outside the courtroom, Brown declined to discuss Lerach's payments. Lerach did not return a phone message. Coughlin Stoia spokesman Dan Newman declined to discuss what payments, if any, Lerach might receive for the Enron or UnitedHealth cases. He said attorney fees are awarded to the firm, which would be "respecting privacy regarding separation arrangements and equity." |
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