Pete Sessions: “With regard to the Florida case, the trial judge found it was unconscionable, as I hope this body finds these fees are…”

“With regard to the Florida case, the trial judge found it was unconscionable, as I hope this body finds these fees are unconscionable. But that case has been reviewed at a higher court and that opinion has been withdrawn. So we don't know yet whether the lawyers in Florida will get $2.8 billion that they request or not. In fact, Mr. Montgomery, the lead attorney in the case, said he fully expects to be paid what his fee agreement said. He expects to prevail. He says he has a contract. How can we violate contracts? We violate contracts all the time in this body. We are telling the tobacco companies they can't advertise. Many of them have advertising contracts extended for years. We are changing the whole way of doing business about tobacco. Everything about the tobacco business is being changed by this legislation. It is a comprehensive legislation in which we deal with almost every aspect of it. One of those aspects ought to be how much these fees should count for. I was in Alabama recently to see one of the finest and biggest industrial announcements in the history of the State and one of the largest in the country. Boeing is going to build a rocket plant near Decatur. It is 50 acres under one roof. They told me with great pride that the cost of that building and facility and land and construction would be $450 million.…”