Hector's Leftovers: Huge Legal Bill For Opioid Lawsuit Draws Attention Of Ethics Commission But Not Much Else; Potential $100 Million Lost To Fight Drug Epidemic; AG Torrez Says New Policy Sets Payout Limits

It wasn't pay to play. It was more like pay a pal. So went the outlandish deal attorney General Hector Balderas pulled off for his favorite law firm--Robles Rael & Anaya (RAR)--before he headed for the exits and became president at Northern NM College. 

It was a deal that lets RAR and two other law firms pocket $148 million or 33 percent of a $453 million settlement with Walgreens over state opioid abuses. That's three times the 12 percent fees other states paid their lawyers in their major pharmacy lawsuits, as reported by Legal Newsline back in June. 

The AG’s office said the money will be split between local and state governments over the next 15 years.   

If the payout was 12 percent the state would have nearly $100 million more to combat opioid addiction. 

Attorney Luis Robles said at the time of the settlement:

No amount of money will bring back the lives lost and ruined because of the over-prescription of prescription opioids. With the Walgreens settlement and others, the State of New Mexico can ramp up its efforts to redress the ravages which the opioids crisis brought to our state.

Earlier this year WalletHub ranked NM the worst in the nation for drug abuse, a ranking earned in part by an unmet need to treat addiction. 

Is it a bridge too far to ask RAR and the other firms  to donate some of their settlement money to the fund set up to treat addiction in the state that has given them so much? 

THE ETHICS ISSUE 

In what appears to be a day late and a dollar short, the state Ethics Commission says contingency fee contracts with no caps--like the one Balderas awarded RAR--should come under regulations in the state procurement code that are meant to prevent over the top fees. The Commission's advisory opinion is here.  

Current AG Raul Torrez ran for the office in '22 in part on what he said were too many law firms getting big legal contracts after making campaign donations, many from out of state. 

In the Walgreens case it was a local firm getting an eyebrow raising deal with Marcus Rael, Jr. of the Robles firm being a BFF of Balderas. 

Torrez's office says he will rein in such deals under his watch but seemed to leave himself wiggle room: 

While AG Torrez was obligated to honor the commitments made by his predecessor for the fees. . .he has also instituted a new policy that sets strict limits on contingency fee cases. . .and will follow the practice of other state attorneys general in relying on in-house attorneys as local counsel whenever possible. . .The conclusion reached by the (Ethics) Commission represents a substantial change in how state agencies have historically contracted for legal services and may hinder the state's ability to secure specialized legal representation when a case involves proprietary information or information that would jeopardize impending litigation if publicly revealed through the procurement process. Nevertheless, the Attorney General supports the goals of transparency and fairness in state contracts.

So in lawyerese this appears to mean maybe legal contracts worth their weight in gold will not continue or maybe they will. 

As for the Ethics Commission it said it is not looking any further into the Walgreens deal. 

FLASHBACK

And this:

Since taking office in 2015, Balderas has hired Rael or others at his firm to help represent the state in at least 19 cases, which is at least triple the number of cases farmed out to any other private law firm, Marcus Rael Jr. used his influence with the attorney general to convince Balderas to sign off on a multi-billion-dollar utility merger between Avangrid-PNM.

An ethics complaint was filed against Balderas over the alleged influenced peddling by RAR. The complaint was dismissed by three watchdog offices, including the Ethics Commission. The utility merger is now before the State Supreme Court. 

A MERE SEPTUAGENARIAN

The competency of RAR is not in question in the Walgreens settlement controversy. It is a leading law firm for multiple government entities in the state. And we just learned that outgoing ABQ Associate Chief of Staff and former longtime City Attorney Bob White, according to a close friend, will be joining the firm upon his retirement this month from the city. And speaking of that. . .

We said last week in noting Bob's retirement that he was an octogenarian as well as a big Dylan fan. That brought this from the PR mavens at City Hall: 

This morning we woke Bob up from where he was sleeping with the Bob Dylan Live at Budokan box set nestled under his arm. We advised him to read your blog, and he jumped up when he got to the part about his retirement. Bob exclaimed, “Octogenarian? Octogenarian?! I’m a mere septuagenarian! Joe’s usually good on the facts, but for a guy in his 30’s, he’s still got a lot to learn.” Then he dozed back off. 

Some fun stuff there as the turkeys get ready to be stuffed this week. 

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