Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “Mr. Chairman, as was indicated by my friend, the gentleman from Michigan, fees are already revealed in settlements. Fees…”

“Mr. Chairman, as was indicated by my friend, the gentleman from Michigan, fees are already revealed in settlements. Fees are a matter of public record; and they are approved, the fees, by the court based upon certain criteria that has been set out and is of long standing approval by the courts. There are two basic methods, the percentage method and the load star method. They have many of the same elements; but they consider things, such as an evaluation of the number of hours worked, benefits secured, the nature and complexity of the issues involved, the amount of money or value of property, the extent of the responsibilities assumed by the attorney, or that the attorney lost employment as a result of being employed in this case, novelty and difficulty of the questions, time limitations, experience, reputation and ability of counsel, undesirability of the case, awards in similar cases and customary fees. That is the general rundown. Those things are considered by the court and fees are placed against that standard when they are approved, and that is placed in the approval. Now, true enough, attorneys do get fees and do get paid; but our friends on the other side do not want the defense to reveal that. Why not? What are they scared of? What are they hiding? Answer me why the defense will not do it. In one case, Food Maker, Inc., as we heard today, killed three people.…”