Senator Lawyers representing children and their parents who sued the state resulting in the Felix consent decree have collected more than $1 million dollars so far.
uneasy over Felix
legal fees
Hanabusa raises questions
about more than $1 million in
plaintiffs' lawyer feesBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comThe total, according to figures reported by the state attorney general to the special legislative committee investigating the Felix decree costs, is $1,340,534.
Sen. Colleen Hanabusa (D, Waianae), co-chairwoman of the committee, is writing to Gov. Ben Cayetano asking why the state paid one of the plaintiff's attorneys, Eric Seitz, to fight a subpoena issued by her committee.
Hanabusa said Seitz charged $9,049 to fight her subpoena, resulting in the state paying to both fight and defend the subpoena.
"The payment of fees for Mr. Seitz as a plaintiff attorney for his time at meetings making telephone calls, drafting motions, etc., all to quash the Legislature's subpoenas is not a proper expenditure of the state's funds," Hanabusa said in her letter.
The bulk of the $1.3 million, $880,000, went to Shelby Floyd, one of the attorneys representing the special-education students.
Floyd said her own calculations show her legal fees have come up to $5 a month per child.
"I think my hourly rate is low; the fees depend on the amount of work done," she said.
A great deal of the time is spent attending meetings either with state officials or in required sessions to make sure the state's schools are complying with the consent decree.
"Probably half of what I do is attending meetings called by the state, meetings with Dr. LeMahieu (superintendent of education), Dr. Anderson (health director) or attending presentations of school complexes coming into compliance," Floyd said.
She explained that she is asked to attend some meetings, and she is required to attend other meetings as a party to the lawsuit.
Seitz, the other plaintiffs' attorney, has been paid $357,936.
Itemized bills from Seitz to the state show that he charged $200 an hour.
He was not available for comment.
Also being paid by the state is Jeff Portnoy, special master appointed by U.S. District Judge David Ezra. Portnoy has received $100,666 since 1995 to assist Ezra.
"I have given the court a special discounted rate, and the only work I do is at the specific request of the court," he said.
Portnoy explained that he handled court conferences in meetings with attorneys or plaintiffs.
Hanabusa said while she is not disputing the costs, she is concerned about the mounting legal expenses. She also noted that there did not appear to be any extensive checking of court costs or attorney bills.
Holly Shikida, deputy attorney general assigned to the Felix decree in the state Education Department, said while she did not think there was a review of each billing statement, the bills are sent to the court, which can either approve or disapprove it.
Shikida said there have been instances when bills that were for an attorney representing a specific student instead of the entire class of special-education students were denied.
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