�
 |
|
 |
|
|
| Larry Birkhead Fee Deal? Debra Opri Turns Down $300,000 To - |
| View previous topic
:: View next topic |
Mariah
 Posted:
Fri Jan 04, 2008 6:00 pm |
|
|
|
Larry Birkhead Fee Deal? Debra Opri Turns Down $300,000 To
Bald Truth Exclusive: Larry Birkhead Fee Deal? Debra Opri Turns Down $300,000 To Settle!
larry-and-debra-img1.jpg
Larry Birkhead, Debra Opri, in the Bahamas–Courtesy, DebraOpri.com
By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
In a world wide web exclusive, The Bald Truth has learned attorney Debra Opri recently turned down a $300,000 offer to settle her fee dispute with former client Larry Birkhead over a legal bill she handed him last year for just over twice that amount.
The deal would have saved all parties further wrangling over $620,000 in legal fees for representing Birkhead in his quest for custody of baby Dannielynn, sources close to the negotiations tell me.
While Opri confirmed the settlement negotiations gone bust, she disputed the deal on the table. She said she’d dug deep to advance $100,000 to fund her fight, travel, pay lawyers in Florida and the Bahamas, making the offer unacceptable.
“The numbers are incorrect,” she told me in an exclusive interview. “We have $100,000 in out of pocket costs and six months around the clock services across three jurisdictions. How can anyone expect me to take only $200,000 in fees for all that?”
During the talks, after several hours of back and forth, Birkhead told her to take it or leave it. “It was more than fair,” says one insider privy to the intrigue. “It was her last shot to get out clean,” from a bill Birkhead has called outrageous. Why did she turn it down? “Greed or stupidity,” says the source.
But Opri calls it a “matter of principal,” and is pressing her case for binding arbitration.
After losing yet another round in court when a Los Angeles judge ruled against arbitration after freezing $591,000 remaining in her client escrow account, Opri filed an appeal in November, and says she’s willing to go to trial, if necessary.
“I don’t consider this story newsworthy,” she tells me. “It’s on an appellate level now. Everyone needs a reality check. I’ve certainly had one.”
According to sources close to the talks, Opri and Birkhead agreed to discuss settling their financial falling out on neutral turf – an office high atop Century City in Los Angeles, for a secret meeting refereed by a firm that specializes in dicey conflict resolution, from mega-million dollar Hollywood divorces to business deals gone bust. Here’s how sources tell me it went down:
Opri and Birkhead never saw each other. They sat in separate rooms with their lawyers, coffee and pastries, as a retired LA Superior Court judge shuttled offers and counter offers back and forth for hours.
Birkhead has disputed what he calls inflated legal fees, including dry cleaning bills, pricey dinners and at least one Opri trip to the Bahamas.
He also says that after TV journalist Rita Cosby introduced them, Opri leaked the former MSNBCer confidential client information for her book, Blonde Ambition, a charge Opri denies. Indeed, that relationship is expected to be a factor in the $60 million libel suit Howard K. Stern filed against Cosby, over a gay tryst charge she writes happened with Birkhead both men deny.
As part of the proposed settlement, insiders tell me, Opri’s insurance carrier agreed to pay $50,000 to Birkhead, who agreed to sign the check over to his ex-attorney – and give Opri another $250,000 from the frozen client escrow account, for a total of $300,000. In effect, fifty cents on the dollar.
That offer to Opri lawyer David Owen also came with a message from Birkhead lawyer Michael Trope, the sources tell me: it was Birkhead’s final offer–take it or leave it. He would never make that offer again.
Deal or no deal? Opri conferred with her attorney and sent back a message: no deal. Trope and Birkhead declined to comment. Both sides are scheduled to see each other in court Feb. 4, 2008.
opri-birkhead-suit-sept-24.pdf
debra-opri-appeal-11-2-07.pdf
http://www.artharris.com/
|
|
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1150
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
�
Jasidogdotcom template v.1.0.4 © jasidog.com
Powered by phpBB
© 2001, 2004 phpBB Group
|
