Rosa Parks' lawyers seek legal fees in settlement with OutKast

<p>Lawyers for Rosa Parks went before a federal judge to seek legal fees in the civil rights pioneer's settled lawsuit against the Atlanta-based rap duo OutKast.</p><p>The April settlement ended a 1999 lawsuit in which Parks' attorneys accused OutKast of wrongly using her name in a song title. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.</p><p>Under the terms of the settlement, Parks was to receive money to be used for her care and to pay bills. The 92-year-old has suffered from dementia since at least 2002.</p><p>Gregory Reed, a Detroit attorney who sued OutKast on Parks' behalf, asked U.S. District Judge George Steeh on Thursday to award his law firm $220,000 and divide another $70,000 among three other firms. He made public a 1999 letter from Parks authorizing him to file the lawsuit and promising him one-third of any settlement.</p><p>Court records cited by The Detroit News show the settlement fund has paid out $150,000 in fees and costs to date, including payments to law firms and to cover some of Parks' bills.</p><p>Steeh scheduled another hearing for July 14.</p><p>Besides the cash settlement, OutKast and co-defendants SONY BMG Music Entertainment, Arista Records LLC and LaFace Records will collaborate on educational programs and a television show about Parks' life and legacy. OutKast and other contemporary artists also will perform on a tribute CD to be produced by SONY BMG.</p><p>Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala., bus in December 1955. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by a then little-known Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a landmark event in the modern civil rights movement.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9ce4)</p>