December 29, 2004

Forbes takes a distinctly critical look at the litigation over MTBE in water supplies (see Overlawyered, Nov. 25, 2003, Jun. 16, 2004) in which litigator Scott Summy of Dallas's Baron & Budd has played a prominent role:

Who pays for the litigation? Ultimately consumers at the pump, say the oil companies. They suggest dipping into the EPA's $2 billion Leaking Underground Storage Tank trust fund, which has been collecting a tenth-of-a-cent tax per gallon of gasoline for years.
Summy objects. "It's unfair to hold the taxpayers responsible for this," he says. He might as well add that such recourse would produce no legal contingency fees.