The Highliner

Commercial fishing is a bedrock industry in Alaska, and has been for more than a century. Every year scores of fishermen net millions of migrating salmon, challenge the icy Bering Sea to trap king crabs, lay miles and miles of baited hooks for halibut, and scoop up enough pollock for a zillion fish sticks. And when fishermen aren't out fishing, they're usually talking about fishing. That's what this blog by Wesley Loy has been all about for the two years he has written it.

Last set - 4/10/2009 7:36 pm

Seeking a PFD fishermen will actually wear - 4/10/2009 7:28 pm

Advice for mariculture: Grow West - 4/10/2009 7:26 pm

Anti-Pebble pitch to Anglo American - 4/10/2009 7:19 pm

Safety issues send two boats back to Hoonah - 4/9/2009 5:35 pm

Palin’s board pick draws fire - 4/2/2009 10:46 am

Cook Inlet fisherman named to board - 4/1/2009 4:51 pm

Wrangell deal back on? - 3/31/2009 9:56 am

How much for the lawyers?

As I understand it, the lawyers representing thousands of commercial fishermen and other plaintiffs will take a 22 percent cut of whatever punitive damages ultimately are collected from Exxon Mobil Corp. for the 1989 oil spill.

But these legal fees aren’t the only deduction to be taken from the $383 million Exxon has paid so far.

The lawyers have filed this motion to also deduct $26.5 million in expenses rung up over the course of the nearly 20-year battle with Exxon.

The motion includes some eye-popping numbers:

• 2,348 attorneys and paralegals from more than 60 law firms worked on behalf of 32,677 plaintiffs.

• More than 10 million pages of documents were produced.

• During 83 trial days in federal court, 155 witnesses testified, including 36 experts on everything from alcohol testing to fish biology and pricing.

Expenses were largely for travel, copying, experts and operating trial offices, the motion says.

In pressing the case, the lawyers risked never recouping their expenses, and took steps to self-police their expense requests to limit excesses, the motion adds.

For example, copy costs were not to exceed 20 cents per page and “secretarial overtime was precluded.”

The motion asks federal Judge H. Russel Holland to approve the requested $26.5 million as reimbursement for “expenses that were reasonably incurred in the prosecution of this massive litigation.”

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