Lawyers and advisers who acted for Mr Larry Goodman and the Goodman companies at the beef tribunal had their fees cut by £1.7 million by the High Court yesterday. The lawyers also failed in their claim to be entitled to more than £2 million interest on the fees.
The tribunal decided in 1994 that Mr Goodman and his beef empire, which were separately represented at the inquiry, were entitled to have their costs paid by the State. The amount awarded was £8.2 million.
The High Court Taxing Master allowed £7.3 million, and the Minister for Finance made an interim payment of more than £5 million in 1996 but asked the High Court to review the Taxing Master's figures.
The Minister resisted a claim by the lawyers that they were entitled to interest on the fees from either 1994 (when the tribunal made the costs order) or from 1996 (when the lawyers wrote looking for interest).
In her judgment on the Minister's challenge yesterday, Ms Justice Laffoy decided to cut the fees of £3.2 million allowed by the Taxing Master to A. & L. Goodbody (solicitors to Mr Goodman) to £2.5 million.
She cut the fees of Rory O'Donnell and Co, another firm of solicitors, which represented the Goodman organisation in relation to export credit issues, from £554,000 to £429,000. Total fees to barristers were cut by almost £400,000 - from about £3 million to £2.6 million.
The judge disallowed certain fees sought by specialist advisers to the Goodman side. She refused a fee of £76,000 to Craig Gardiner/Price Waterhouse; £162,000 to PR consultant Pat Heneghan; £118,000 to Somers and Associates; £38,000 to Britton Consultants and £34,000 to Concept Catering Ltd.
Ms Justice Laffoy reduced the Taxing Master's allowance by almost £1.7 million. The lawyers had already received from the State a total of £5,070,359 in August 1996.