“Laura Balemian, whose husband Edward J. Mardovich died in the World Trade Center, received one of the largest awards paid out by the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund: $6.7 million. But she in turn paid out what is almost certainly the highest legal fee. While the vast majority of victims were represented before the fund pro bono or for a nominal fee, Balemian paid her lawyer, Thomas J. Troiano, a one-third contingent fee, or over $2 million.” In an affidavit, 9/11 fund special master Kenneth Feinberg calls Troiano’s fee “shocking and unconscionable”, and says that fund guidelines recommend that attorney fees be kept under 5 percent of family recoveries; Troiano, however, says Mrs. Balemian knew what she was getting into and that his efforts produced outstanding results. (Anthony Lin, “Attorney’s $2 Million 9/11 Fee Called ‘Shocking, Unconscionable'”, New York Law Journal, Aug. 29; Alfonso A. Castillo, “9/11 widow battles over attorney’s fee”, Newsday, Sept. 1; MyShingle, Aug. 28).
Update: Story also covered in this American Justice Partnership publication (PDF).
2 Comments
Kind of torn on this one. Yes, it’s pretty swarmy to get 1/3 from the 9/11 Great Taxpayer Robbery. However, apparently at first the fund offered 1.1M and he pulled out the stops and got 6.6M. IF that is true, then perhaps he deserves 1/3 of 6.6M – 1.1M.
Here’s a question for you lawyers: if we’re paying the relatives of victims of 9/11, couldn’t this be considered precedent for many, many others to collect in other incidents?