The argument over $14 million in attorneys fees from a $100 million state settlement will be settled in a Mississippi court, and state Auditor Stacey Pickering thinks the decision may come quickly.
Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William Pauley decided Monday afternoon that even though the fees were earned in a federal bankruptcy case, the dispute that followed involves questions of Mississippi state law. His decision affirmed an earlier ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez.
The State of Mississippi agreed to a $100 million settlement over back taxes allegedly owed by Worldcom in 2005 and was represented by admitted felons Joey Langston and Timothy Balducci, both of whom are awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty of attempting to bribe a judge.
“(T)he Bankruptcy Court decided that the State’s pursuit of the fees paid to the Langston Law Firm was not a collateral attack of the Settlement Order implicating res judicata, estoppel or waiver, which was the Langston Law Firm’s first claim,” Pauley wrote.
Magnolia Tribune
