Monday July 7th, 2025 6:39AM

Atlanta law firm sues Tulsa over legal fees

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TULSA, OKLAHOMA - An Atlanta law firm has sued the city over $691,000 in legal fees from a class-action lawsuit brought by black police officers. <br> <br> Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, says in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Atlanta that it is owed the money for work performed from Aug. 1 through Jan. 9. <br> <br> The lawsuit says the city ignored repeated requests for payment. <br> <br> ``We regret that it has become necessary to file this suit,&#39;&#39; firm spokesman Bill Kaspers said. ``We have offered to withdraw it if the new administration pays us what we are owed within the next 20 days. <br> <br> ``Hopefully, the city will do the right thing and make it unnecessary to continue this litigation.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The firm withdrew as co-counsel in the civil rights lawsuit on Jan. 9. Then-mayor Susan Savage said the decision for the firm to withdraw was ``mutual.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The city paid the firm $1.5 million for services dating back to April 1998. <br> <br> The firm claims it was forced to withdraw from the case in January after the city refused to pay or commit to a schedule to pay the outstanding fees, costs and expenses it owed the private legal team, according to the lawsuit. <br> <br> After the Atlanta firm withdrew, the city used in-house counsel to reach what is now a proposed settlement with the black officers. <br> <br> At times the city has maintained that the disputed billings were for services that exceeded the contractual amount. City officials have said the city is not required to pay for services performed outside of an existing contract. <br> <br> On other occasions the city has said it was disputing some of the unpaid billings and that an agreement on a final bill had not been reached. <br> <br> ``We&#39;ve been through the bills and we don&#39;t have an agreement on the final bill, but we know it will be a lesser amount,&#39;&#39; Deputy City Attorney Larry Simmons said, in a March interview.
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