- 73 - turned out, the overall reduction of approximately 62 percent in the Thompson deficiencies provided by the new settlement was more than enough to produce the approximately $60,000 of refunds McWade and DeCastro thought would be needed to pay DeCastro’s original estimate of what his fees would be. As it further turned out, the additional interest on the Thompsons’ payments under the original settlement was sufficient to provide DeCastro with an additional fee that he (and perhaps Mr. Thompson) probably felt was justified by his success in keeping the new settlement in effect, as well as leave a surplus to be retained by the Thompsons.35 Test case and nontest case petitioners in the main fall into two groups, both of which are now in different situations from the situation of the Thompsons 15-20 years ago. It is the Court’s impression that a substantial majority of nontest case petitioners are in the unhappy situation of having followed Kersting’s advice to stand pat. They neither settled their cases nor made any remittances in respect of the deficiencies determined against them. With the passage of years and the operation against them of the force of compound interest, they claim that they have been facing financial ruin, with all its 35The lack of legal rationale and the opportunistic character of the new settlement are emphasized by the fact that it was entered into after the litigation risk that supported the original 20-percent reduction settlement had evaporated with the publication of this Court’s opinion in Dixon I.Page: Previous 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011