Legal Fees

It's been months of upheaval for tech company SafeNet Inc.: government inquiries about stock option manipulation, the resignations of top officers, an ownership change and - this week - the indictment of its former president. Yet in many respects, the Harford County company says, business has never been better. The information encryption and security firm, which went private in April amid the fallout from the stock option probe, said it has broken records for revenue and profit in the past two quarters despite the disruptions.

Warning that the billion-dollar fee dispute between lawyer Peter G. Angelos and Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. could produce a brutal "public bloodletting" in Maryland's legal community, a judge yesterday urged the two sides to try to reach agreement."

In a move to settle legal expenses from a federal lawsuit against the city, Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved a budget request yesterday that brings the total cost of private attorneys' fees in the case to $800,000.The city Law Department asked for $500,000 to settle expenses in a lawsuit brought by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment, which filed a complaint against the city two years ago over excessive dumping at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant and Ashburton Water Filtration Plant.

In a bitter battle of former allies over legal fees, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. sued Peter G. Angelos yesterday, accusing the prominent Baltimore attorney of breach of contract and asking the court to protect the state's tobacco payout.Angelos, who contends that the state owes him more than $1 billion for handling its tobacco lawsuit, meanwhile placed a lien on the first payment of Maryland's $4.7 billion share of the national tobacco settlement, said Deputy Attorney General Carmen M. Shepard.

The Maryland State Police paramedic who successfully sued his bosses for bias for denying him parental leave has asked the agency to pay his lawyers' fees and expenses of $493,642.36.That would be in addition to the $375,000 a Baltimore federal court jury awarded Tfc. Howard Kevin Knussman last month after deciding that the state police illegally discriminated against him because he is a man.The 22-year trooper from Easton made the request for the payment of legal fees in a petition last week to U.S. District Judge Walter E. Black Jr., noting provisions of federal civil rights statutes that enable parties who prevail in lawsuits to recover their costs.

A week after approving $250,000 in legal fees to defend Baltimore public works officials, Board of Estimates members are questioning a Law Department proposal to spend $500,000 for another case.The issue has been placed on the board's "nonroutine" agenda for debate today. The city has spent $300,000 in the civil suit against the city by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment, which filed a complaint over excessive dumping at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant and Ashburton Water Filtration Plant.

WASHINGTON -- White House aides refused to rule out yesterday that President Clinton will seek a taxpayer reimbursement of the $5 million he owes his attorneys for fees incurred during independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's Whitewater investigation.Press accounts during the weekend quoted anonymous sources who maintained that the president and first lady were "seriously considering" filing for reimbursement, a statement that White House officials denied. They said the Clintons have not thought much about the issue, though they have not ruled it out.White House spokesman Joe Lockhart blamed "mischievous people" in the independent counsel's office for raising the issue long before the Clintons could apply for reimbursement.

Linda R. Tripp wants your help -- about $1 million worth.With a new Web site and newspaper advertisement, as well as a continuing direct-mail campaign, Tripp's legal defense fund is reaching out for donations to help pay her bills.Since Tripp's illicit taping of phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky exposed the scandal that led to President Clinton's impeachment in December, she says she has amassed about $750,000 in legal bills, a figure that could easily climb past $1 million.Now, as her lawyers prepare to battle Maryland wiretapping charges this week, Tripp has launched a broad appeal to Americans -- especially those who loathe Clinton, such as truck driver Larry J. Mulholland.

Lawyers for Peter G. Angelos and Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. agreed yesterday to leave the first installment of the state's $4.7 billion tobacco settlement in a New York account until a judge rules on their dispute over legal fees.Curran sued Angelos on Wednesday, charging him with violating the terms of his contract to handle the state's tobacco lawsuit. He wants the court to order Angelos to apply for his fee to an arbitration panel so that it can be paid by the tobacco industry rather than out of the state's settlement.

A Baltimore lawyer has been found negligent in representing an Eastern Shore man whose stepdaughter won an $885,000 judgment against him for sexual abuse.A Baltimore Circuit Court jury returned its verdict last week against attorney Michael P. May.The jury found that the client, Symcha Shpak of Neavitt, near St. Michaels in Talbot County, was entitled to $500,000 for humiliation and embarrassment.But it also found that Shpak did not deserve to get back $1.1 million -- the amount of the judgment his stepdaughter won in a Baltimore County Circuit Court case seven years ago, plus interest and legal fees.

Should Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon be reimbursed by taxpayers for her legal fees, if she is acquitted of the charges against her in her upcoming trials? Yes 15% No 81% Not sure 4% (2,049 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Do you approve of the health care reform bill passed over the weekend by the House of Representatives? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

The decision to yank Annapolis sailor Farrah Hall from the Beijing Olympic team in favor of Nancy Rios never passed the sniff test. Lame excuses by US Sailing about its unilateral ruling in October 2007 only made things worse. Now, a panel convened by the U.S. Olympic Committee has found that Hall was judged by a kangaroo court that ignored federal law and followed its own rules that were, at best, written in the dirt with a stick. In a 23-page ruling, the hearing panel called the situation created by US Sailing "a procedural nightmare" that could have been avoided if Hall had been allowed to defend herself.

Timing is everything. And now is not the time for Baltimore officials to enact a law that would allow for the payment of legal fees for city employees cleared of criminal charges. The reason is this: Mayor Sheila Dixon and Councilwoman Helen L. Holt have been indicted on criminal charges as a result of a political corruption investigation. Such new legislation or any change in the city's practice would be self-serving and not in the public's interest. After ducking reporters for two days, Mayor Sheila Dixon had something to say about research city Solicitor George A. Nilson was conducting on this very issue: "I have not seen the extent of Mr. Nilson's findings nor do I believe that a new policy is necessary."

Mayor Sheila Dixon shoved a television reporter's microphone yesterday while declining questions about whether taxpayers should foot her legal bills, and several City Council members expressed surprise that her administration would draft a new reimbursement policy while the mayor is under indictment. "I think this is the wrong issue at the wrong time for Baltimore City," said Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who represents North Baltimore. "We have been 200 years without a policy. We are in the middle of indictments.

Baltimore taxpayers could foot the bill for Mayor Sheila Dixon's legal fees under a new policy being drafted by the city law department. The city's top attorney, Solicitor George A. Nilson, said he offered to research whether city officials could be repaid for costs associated with a lengthy investigation into City Hall corruption after a conversation with Dixon and others last summer. "I looked at the prior record and realized that there wasn't any clear policy," Nilson said. "I just thought it made a whole lot of sense to spell it out."

Supporters of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon are considering creating a defense fund to defray legal fees incurred during a probe that has focused in part on gifts Dixon received from developers getting tax breaks from the city. "I have heard of an interest to support the mayor in any way possible," said Dixon chief of staff Demaune Millard, adding that a defense fund was "one of the areas that was brought up." "I do understand that efforts are under way," he said. "How it is established, its leadership or anything of that nature, I'm not privy to."

WASHINGTON -- When Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. came under investigation for ordering the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, one of his first calls was to a small Virginia insurance company that thrives on government trouble. Like a growing number of CIA employees, Rodriguez, former head of the agency's clandestine service, had bought professional liability insurance from Wright & Co. The insurer, founded in 1965 by a former FBI agent, is now paying his mounting legal bills. The standard Wright policy costs a little less than $300 a year.

George Winfield posthumously honored for public service L. Winfield, who was director of Baltimore's Department of Public Works for seven years, was posthumously given the city's award for public service yesterday. Winfield spent three decades with the city - serving under five mayors - and developed a reputation as a quiet, steady worker who rarely, if ever, raised his voice as he pushed major DPW projects to completion. He died of a stroke a month ago at the age of 64. "What we don't want to happen is for any of us to forget this man," Mayor Sheila Dixon said before bestowing the Richard A. Lidinsky Sr. Award to Winfield's family.

It's been months of upheaval for tech company SafeNet Inc.: government inquiries about stock option manipulation, the resignations of top officers, an ownership change and - this week - the indictment of its former president. Yet in many respects, the Harford County company says, business has never been better. The information encryption and security firm, which went private in April amid the fallout from the stock option probe, said it has broken records for revenue and profit in the past two quarters despite the disruptions.

A federal judge dismissed charges yesterday against 13 former employees of the accounting firm KPMG, delivering a blow to prosecutors who once heralded the case as a showpiece in the government's crusade against questionable tax shelters. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled that he had no choice but to dismiss the charges because the government had strong-armed KMPG into not paying the legal fees of defendants and violating their rights. The ruling severely hobbles a case - once billed by the government as the largest criminal tax case ever - that was filed in 2005 amid a government crackdown on questionable tax shelters.