West Palm Beach, Florida -- Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge Harold Cohen freed tobacco's first payment of $750 million, which has been sitting in two escrow accounts pending a resolution of the attorney fee's dispute. Judge Cohen called the $2.8 billion in fees "patently ridiculous."

Judge Cohen quashed six liens that had been filed against the $750 million by attorneys who wanted to be paid under a contract signed at the outset of the State of Florida's tobacco case. The attorney's fee allows for 25 percent of the state's total recovery under the tobacco suit. The attorneys stood to obtain a windfall of close to $2.8 billion, or $233,000,000 for each of the 12 attorneys.

Little Rock, Ark. Her lawyers told Paula Jones that $700,000 from President Clinton's insurers and a vague apology would be "a complete victory" in her sexual harassment lawsuit.

According to a pair of letters written last summer and released Wednesday, attorneys Joseph Cammarata and Gilbert K. Davis warned Jones that her new demands were changing her goals from protecting her reputation to proving "Clinton is a bad person."

Jones' take from the settlement would be $200,000. That leaves $500,000 for the two lawyers. The lawyers were visibly upset over Paula Jones decision to reject the settlement.

Montgomery -- Attorneys in the court battle over equal funding in Alabama public schools have asked a judge to order the state to pay them $3,600,000 in legal fees.

The Alabama Supreme Court in December, 1997, affirmed Montgomery Circuit Judge Sally Greenhaw's ruling that the attorneys for the children and school systems were entitled to be paid a total of $3.6 million for their work in the case.

Montgomery attorney Bobby Segall, one of the attorneys seeking payment, recently asked Judge Greenhaw to order the state to pay them.

State attorneys contend the attorney fees must be approved by the Alabama Legislature before they can be paid. Lawyer Segall disagrees with that argument.

Attorney fees also do not have to be approved by the Legislature if they are approved under the doctrine of a common benefit fund, Segall said.

The Alabama constitution says, "The state can never be made a defendant in any case." Citizens cannot sue the state, even if the state owes the citizen money. Constitution, Article 1, § 14.

Lawsuits against the state seek money from the state and are barred by sovereign immunity, when the action is , in effect, one against the state. An action is one against the state when a favorable result for the plaintiff would directly affect a contract or property right of the State, or would result in the plaintiff's recovery of money from the state.

How can the lawyers of Alabama abrogate the state constitution and its sovereign immunity and collect millions from the taxpayers and call it legal fees?

See also: The King Can Do No Wrong

Amounts Kenneth Starr says he has spent in his Monica Lewinsky investigation.

Compensation --------- $1,860,000
Travel ----------------------- 949,895
Contractual Services ---- 884,110
Rent, Utilities ------------- 356,494
Equipment ----------------- 186,021
Supplies ---------------------- 82,653
Total --------------------- $4,319,173