Contingency Fee Counsel for Public Nuisance Lawsuits Comes at the Expense of the Taxpayers

In an opinion piece discussing the growing cottage industry in questionable public nuisance litigation, Lisa Rickard of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform writes this week about the financial incentive that the Motley Rice firm had, as outside contingent fee counsel, to pursue such public nuisance claims unsuccessfully in Rhode Island - at the expense of the people of that state. She notes, in part, that:

"In pushing this sham lawsuit, the law firm hired to represent the state forced the paint manufacturers to spend a tremendous amount of money on defense costs. Since Motley Rice was working on behalf of the people of the state, the taxpayers may now be on the hook to reimburse the companies for their legal bills."

One has to wonder whether government attorneys with no personal stake in driving the litigation forward would have felt that, on balance, exposing the taxpayers by advancing such a tenuous public nuisance theory was the right thing to do for the public those attorneys represent.