Judge calls $600K legal fee in fast-track $1.5M settlement for woman punched by cop 'unconscionable'
Noting that it took only about three months for a California lawyer to get a $1.5 million settlement concerning police conduct videotaped by a passing motorist, a federal judge last week described the attorney’s fee of over $600,000 charged by lawyer Caree Harper as “unconscionable.”
However, although U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II said during a Los Angeles court hearing that, in his opinion, the homeless woman represented by Harper “has been exploited,” it isn’t clear that there will be any sanction for the attorney, beyond the two days she spent in jail earlier this month, for contempt, after initially refusing to answer questions about her representation of Marlene Pinnock, according to the Associated Press, LAist and the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.).
Pinnock, who was earlier described as bipolar in news reports, is said by her family to have schizophrenia and may not have been taking her medication at the time of the July 2014 incident. The videotape shows her repeatedly being punched in the face by a uniformed state highway patrol officer as she is lying on her back near a freeway.
Harper, who did not attend the hearing last week, told the Times that she had done nothing wrong in handling of Pinnock’s federal civil rights case. She said the judge was confusing mental illness and mental incompetence. She also explained that she had hesitated to answer his questions earlier this month about her representation of Pinnock and oversight of client funds, which she hadn’t expected, because of the manner in which Wright was speaking to her.
“I put on the record, due to the fact the way the court was questioning me that I wanted a lawyer present,” Harper said. “I had no idea I was going to be questioned on that matter.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Woman punched by highway patrol officer in videotaped incident will get $1.5M settlement”
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer is jailed for contempt for refusing to answer federal judge’s questions about client”
