Tobacco.org

• Plaintiffs Lawyers Tangle Over Billions in Tobacco Fees 

On Nov. 2, 2007, Brent Coon, now a principal in Beaumont's Brent Coon & Associates, sued 10 defendants in U.S. District Court for the Western District in Austin. In his original complaint in Coon v. Umphrey, et al., he alleges he was a partner in Provost Umphrey in January 1998, when the state reached a settlement agreement with the tobacco companies, and he is entitled to a portion of the fees. The total amount of fees to be split among the lawyers who represented the state is $3.3 billion.

"Coon did not receive any of his scheduled attorney's fees payments despite Defendants obligation to pay those attorney's fees," Coon alleges in the complaint.

"This is a multimillion-dollar claim for back pay," Coon says in an interview.

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