Dobelle’s attorney
questions figures

An attorney for former University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle challenged the UH regents' statement that his ouster could have cost the university between $4 million and $5 million.

Attorney Rick Fried said Dobelle's contract would have required the university to pay about $2.2 million in severance and other payments had the regents fired Dobelle without cause.

Dobelle was initially fired in June, but the "for cause" designation was rescinded a month later after Dobelle and the regents reached a mediated settlement in which the university agreed to provide $1.05 million in severance and to cover his legal fees and life insurance premiums.

On Thursday, the regents said they would pay an estimated $1 million for attorneys on both sides of the dispute, but they noted that they still saved money since firing Dobelle without cause would have cost an estimated $4 million to $5 million under the original contract.

According to the regents, the costs of the mediated settlement -- combined with the legal costs for both sides -- is less than half of the amount that they would have paid Dobelle under his contract.

Kitty Lagareta, the board's vice chairwoman, said the regents stand by their estimate.

Fried said he believed that the $750,000 in legal fees charged by the university's outside attorneys -- McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon, Marr Hipp Jones & Wang and Jerry Hiatt -- are probably reasonable.

But he was critical of an $89,742.81 bill for a public relations firm, QSR-Pacific Inc. "I'm curious what they did for $90,000," Fried said.