Two House Republicans today continued their effort to prevent the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the Cobell class action from getting more than $50 million in attorney fees for their work in the 15-year old case.  Congressmen Doc Hastings of Washington and Don Young of Alaska introduced legislation, H.R. 887 in March.  H.R. 887 establishes a cap of $50 million on attorney fees and expenses on plaintiffs’ attorneys in the class action case, Cobell v. Salazar.

Without any knowledge of the work and hours involved in the 15-year old underlying class action, in a letter (pdf), Congressman Young stated that plaintiffs’ fee request was “grossly excessive.”  Without any knowledge of the factors that determine reasonable attorney fees, in a letter (pdf), Congressmen Hastings stated that plaintiffs lawyers were only seeking to “enrich themselves” at the expense of the client.