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Jul 18, 2008 11:51 pm US/Eastern
Decade Long Fight Over Fire Rescue Fee May End
1996 Fire Rescue Fee ruled unconstitutional
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
A fire rescue fee enacted in 1996 to raise money for the City of Miami and ruled unconstitutional by a court is still the subject of a decade-long legal battle that is expected to end in just a few months with a $17.1 million settlement. But before it does, the activists who worked to eliminate the fee are now accusing the attorneys on the case of asking for too much money.
"We had no clue what we were going to be facing," said Elizabeth Cimadevilla, a Miami landlord who says the fire fee was illegally put on the books and faught it from the very beginning.
Now, Cimadevilla says she's very angry, upset, and frustrated because the people who paid the fire fee could get burned again. The attorneys who worked the case are asking for nearly half of the potential settlement money.
"For everyone out there to receive $50 or $100, unspeakable, because I myself have paid thousands," said Cimadevilla.
"It's been an uphill battle," said attorney Patrick Scott, one of the three lawyers working the case. "I understand why people may believe that we don't deserve it. But we've worked for it. We earned it and their anger should be pointed toward the people who are responsible for protracting this case."
The three-attorney team says they did 4,000 hours worth of work. That adds up to just over $1.5 million. However, the lawyers are asking the courts for five times that amount, nearly $7.7 million -- a fee the lawyers say is common and appropriate for this type of case.
"The reason why these fees are so high is because their elected officials participated in foolish behavior with their money and that is the reason why we had to put in so many hours, so much work, and expended so much in costs. And here 4 years later, we haven't been paid a penny but we've had to pay a lot out ourselves," said Scott.
"Two wrongs don't make a right. I don't believe that they've put in that amount of work to cover asking for $7.7 million," said Cimadevilla.
How much taxpayers will get back can't be tabulated just yet, but the attorneys say they've saved taxpayers more than $32 million by fighting against this fire fee. The activists filed an objection to the attorneys' fees just this week. It will be heard in court on Tuesday.
Late this week, the CBS4 I-Team learned that, while the attorneys feel they deserve the $7.7 million, they will leave it up to the court to decide. They are expected to tell the judge that they'll be happy with anything between $3 million and $5 million.
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