Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 02-23-2010 Regular — reading text

Mike Anderson, Mayor ATTEST: Approved for form and legal sufficiency, L r OA- 4 tt Helen Spencer, City Clerk Toni r.Craig, City Attorney 0 New language is underlined; deleted language is FAFioken Codification Instructions: Sections of this Ordinance to be codified: Section 2 Placement: Amends Volume 11, Chapter 1. 05 as stated A m Find 511212009 149- THIS PAGE IS LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK 150-  CITY COUNCIL MEETING February 23, 2010 Discussion - Direction - Action Discussion Lawsuit against Merrill Lynch for General Employee Pension Fund losses Synopsis: Following Beggs & Lane attorneys presentation at the 21912010 Special Council Meeting, Council requested a continuance to give additional time to review the information andfee structure Agenda Item Number: 9. 2  Page 1 of 4 Carole Jones From: Toni Craig [toni @tonicraig. info] Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 3: 14 PM To: Carole Jones Cc: Robert Mearns Subject: RE: Draft fee language; Gen Pension Board, Merrill Lynch Bob This is the second and final email as backup for the Feb 23 agenda item regarding Merrill Lynch. Toni L. Craig Attorney at Law Fla Bar No 115444 850) 243 -6969 www.tonicrig .info From: Jim Linn [ mailto:jlinn @llw- law.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 2: 59 PM To: Toni Craig Cc: Robert Mearns Subject: RE: Draft fee language; Gen Pension Board, Merrill Lynch Toni, Sorry for my delay in getting back to you —I was on the road almost all last week. As I previously indicated, I have never been a party to a contingent fee arrangement with any governmental entity I have represented, and I am not really interested in doing that now. That said, I do not believe the City is precluded from entering into a contingent fee arrangement in a matter such as this. If the City wants me to provide assistance to Mr. Miller et al, and keep abreast of the case, the City may prefer to handle my fees through a contingent fee arrangement rather than hourly billing. If this is the City' s preference, I will certainly abide by it. Otherwise, I would be pleased to provide assistance to Mr. Miller and his team as you direct, and bill the City for my services per my existing hourly fee arrangement with the City. Jim James W. Linn Lewis, Longman & Walker, P. A. Post Office Box 16098 Tallahassee, FL 32317 Phone: ( 850) 222 -5702 Fax: ( 850) 224 -9242 jlinn @ - llw _ law.com www. 11w - law. com Lewis, Longman & Walker, P. A. is proud to be an ABA -EPA Law Office Climate Challenge Partner. Think before you print! The information contained in this transmission may be legally privileged and confidential. It is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this communication in error, and that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email and delete the message and all copies of it. Circular 230 notice: pursuant to regulations issued by the IRS, to the extent this communication (or any attachment) concerns tax matters, it is not intended or written to be 151- 2/ 17/ 2010 -  Page 2 of 4 used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax -related penalties under the internal revenue code or (ii) marketing or recommending to another party any tax - related matter addressed within. Each taxpayer should seek advice based on the individual' s circumstances from an independent tax advisor. From: Toni Craig [ mailto: toni@tonicraig. info] Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1: 17 PM To: Jim Linn Cc: ' Robert Mearns' Subject: FW: Draft fee language; Gen Pension Board, Merrill Lynch Jim Last night Greg Miller of Beggs & Lane came to Council for a decision about litigation vs. Merrill Lynch. He gave a copy of the attached agenda information and then handed me the Attorney Client Agreement. 1 questioned the fee arrangement, and this is the response 1 got from Mr. Miller today. Are you interested in being involved in the litigation for this split fee? Otherwise, do you think this is a reasonable contingency fee arrangement for the expected work to be completed? Please note my new email address: toni @tonicraig. info Toni L. Craig Attorney at Law Fla Bar No 115444 Board Certified, City, County, Local Government Law PO Box 2917 105 Lewis Street Suite 102 Fort Walton Beach FL 32549 850) 243 -6969 Fax: ( 850) 244 -8929 www.tonicraig. fo . infoi Marital & Family Law Local Government Law CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email is intended only for the use of the addressee. If you received this email in error, please notify me immediately, delete the email from your computer and do not copy or disclose it to anyone else. If you are not an existing client of Toni L. Craig, Attorney at Law, do not construe anything in this email as legal advice or to make you a client. Do not disclose anything to me in any reply that you expect to be kept confidential. If you are a client, you should keep the contents of this email confidential to preserve the attorney -client or work product privilege. From: Gregory Miller [ mailto: grm @b eggslane.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 9: 56 AM To: toni @tonicraig. info Cc: dledbetter@dlsecuritieslaw. com; David McGee; gdeloach @dlsecuritieslaw.com; Gregory Miller; pmougey@levinlaw.com Subject: Draft fee language Dear Ms. Craig, The two inserts below are alternative fee arrangements similar to ones we' ve used in other cases. The first arrangement passes work onto the shoulders of the pension fund' s legal counsel, and pension staff, and reduces our fee recovery. The second arrangement is a bit different. In this regard a private attorney who normally charges a pension fund an hourly fee for guidance / service to his /her client agrees, in this instance, to take his /her fees on a contingent basis for work he / she does in relation to assisting the litigation of the fund' s claims against Merrill Lynch. In a number of cases we agreed to share a portion of our recovery with private attorneys who serve as retained legal counsel to public pension funds. By separate written agreement with those attorneys, we agreed to share 10% of our legal fees with the board' s private counsel in exchange for work to' be performed by that counsel. For example, if legal fees totaled 33 & 1/ 3% of an award, the fund' s private attorney would receive 3 & 1/ 3% of the total award. In other words, the board' s 2/ 17/ 2010 - 152-  Page 3 of 4 attorney would receive 10% of the total legal fee due the three other firms. Should either of the arrangements below be chosen by the fund' s board, additional revisions will need to be made to the draft fee agreement I presented to you last night for review. Best Regards, Greg EXAMPLE 1 2. Consideration. In consideration of the services to be rendered by Attorneys on behalf of Client, pursuant to this Agreement, Client agrees to compensate Attorneys with a contingent fee of the following percentage( s) of the total recovery. A. If recovery is made before the filing of an answer or the demand for appointment of arbitrators if no answer is filed or no demand for appointment of arbitrators or, is made, the expiration of the time period provided for such action: i. 30 % of any recovery up to $ 1 million; plus ii. 27% of any portion of the recovery between $ 1 million and $ 2 million; plus iii. 18% of any portion of the recovery exceeding $ 2 million. B. If recovery is made after the filing of an answer or the demand for appointment of if no answer is filed or no demand for appointment of arbitrators is made, the arbitrators or, expiration of the time period provided for such action, through the entry of judgment: i. 31 1/ 2% of any recovery up to $ 1 million; plus ii. 27% of any portion of the recovery between $ 1 million and $ 2 million; plus iii. 18% of any portion of the recovery exceeding $ 2 million. C. In consideration of Attorneys reducing their contingency fee percentages to the amounts set forth above, Client' s board attorneys and pension staff shall provide the following assistance to Attorneys: i. Provide institutional knowledge ( e. g., factual background) to the Attorneys; ii. Interface between the Client and Attorneys, and seek Client' s guidance and approvals when necessary; iii. Identify, locate and interface with witnesses needed for depositions and document production; iv. Assist the Attorneys in obtaining documents and records maintained by Client' s pension staff; and, V. Assist in other ways as mutually agreed upon by the Attorneys and Client. EXAMPLE 2 Using the same fee percentages as contained in the draft fee agreements that were presented to you at the meeting of the counsel last evening) 6. Associate Counsel. Client, after being fully informed of the nature of the relationships provided for herein, approves the association of the firm of as Associate Counsel and agrees that the Attorneys' fees set forth above will include fees due Associate Counsel, which In this fees shall be divided based upon the work performed by