A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution story, “Legal Fees Add Up as Water Litigation Stretches On and On” reports that the State of Georgia and the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) have spent about $18.7 million in outside legal fees in a two decades long tri-state water wars negotiating and litigating to preserve metro Atlanta’s access to drinking water from Lake Lanier. This spending is viewed as critical to protecting the area’s economic viability, as a shortage of drinking water, by some estimates, would cost the local economy billions annually.
The balk of the $8.5 million in fees Georgia has paid to outside attorneys has gone to the Atlanta firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge. The balk of the $10.3 million in legal fees ARC and five water agencies joining it in the suit have paid in legal fees has gone to Atlanta’s firm King & Spalding. The state and the ARC have split the $1.3 million paid lead attorney, Seth Waxman, and his Washington, DC firm, WilmerHale, since they joined the case in 2009. Of that, Georgia paid about $680,000, and the ARC and six metro water authorities paid about $600,000.
In the underlying litigation, the 11th Circuit overturned a decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson that would have cut off metro Atlanta’s access to Lanier’s water supply. That ruling said the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which manages the lake, doesn’t have the authority to manage it as a water supply. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Army Corp of Engineers has authority to allocate additional water from Lake Lanier. Florida and Alabama appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, with the meters running, ARC attorneys are preparing a brief to argue against theat appeal. Patricia Barmeyer, King & Spalding’s lead attorney said, who has been on the case since 1999, said the state has no choice but to defend itself after Alabama fired the first shot filing a federal lawsuit against Georgia in 1990. Years of litigation lie ahead with too many legal issues remain unresolved.