US appeals court expects judge to ‘promptly’ issue fee ruling after 5 years

BOSTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court says it expects a Boston judge to “promptly” issue a ruling after a five-year delay in a dispute between three law firms over how to divide more than $20 million in fees arising out of a $784.6-million settlement with Pfizer.
A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday declined for the time being to force U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock to rule within 60 days, as all sides in the fee dispute had jointly requested.
But the panel stressed it had an “expectation that the district court will promptly decide the matters before it in this case where the subject of the dispute has been pending and apparently ready for decision for five years.”
The panel, which included Chief U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron and Circuit Judges Gustavo Gelpi and Lara Montecalvo, denied the law firms’ Nov. 2 request without prejudice, meaning they can refile it at a later date.
Woodlock’s chambers and the law firms’ lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
According to a semi-annual judicial report, as of March 31, Woodlock had 42 civil cases with motions pending for more than six months and five awaiting decisions more than half a year after a bench trial, more than any other Massachusetts federal judge.
Those bench trials included a four-day, non-jury trial Woodlock presided over in 2018 in the fee dispute between the three law firms Sakla Law Firm, Vezina & Gattuso and Boone & Stone.
The firms had represented William St. John LaCorte, a Louisiana doctor and whistleblower whose claims were central to a 2016 settlement Pfizer reached with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement resolved claims that Wyeth, which Pfizer acquired in 2009, reported false and fraudulent prices to the government for antacid drugs Protonix Oral and Protonix I.V. and underpaid drug rebates to Medicaid.
The Justice Department had intervened in a lawsuit initially filed by LaCorte under the False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to sue companies on the government’s behalf to recover taxpayer funds paid out based on false claims.
Whistleblowers are entitled to a cut of any recovery. The bench trial concerned whether Vezina & Gattuso and Boone & Stone were owed some of the $37.4 million that was set aside in the settlement for attorneys’ fees.
Both firms were fired by LaCorte before the 2016 settlement, in which he was represented by the Sakla Law Firm. That firm disputed the others’ claim that they were owed more than $20 million of the fees.
The disputed funds have remained in a court registry pending Woodlock’s ruling.
The case is In Re Boone and Stone, et al, 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-1918.
For Vezina & Gattuso and Boone & Stone: Christopher O’Hara of Todd & Weld
For Sakla Law Firm: Lisa Arrowood of Arrowood and Richard Stanley of Stanley Reuter Thornton & Alford
Read more:
Law firms in fee fight seek to force Boston judge to rule after 5-year wait
Law firms go to trial over cut of Pfizer’s $785 million settlement
Pfizer to pay $784.6 million to resolve Wyeth false claims lawsuit
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Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at [email protected].