Gov. Bob Riley, Attorney General Troy King trade jabs over BP lawsuits

[maddezmom]

Source: al.com

As Attorney General Troy King moves forward with litigation against BP, Gov. Bob Riley is seeking to limit King's negotiating power in the landmark case.

Riley has issued an executive order that restricts King's authority to hire private lawyers to help represent the state, a move that rekindled a long-running feud between the governor and the state's top lawyer.

King suggested that Riley did not grasp the stakes in the multimillion-dollar case and said that the order would weaken the state in its battle with the oil giant.

"He'd rather take pot shots at me than do what's best for Alabama," King said.

Riley's order stipulates that any legal contract that exceeds $195 an hour or that contains a contingency fee agreement must be approved by his office. The order was signed Thursday, hours before King sued BP and its partner companies accusing them of negligence and reckless behavior in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.




Read more: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/08/gov_bob_riley_attorney_general.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Presumably

this is an effort to limit the aggregate rake off by lawyers ?

[juajen]

2. Yeah, so Riley can take a rakeoff from BP, etc. Corporatism. Enough said.