The Justice Department has objected to a $3.8 million legal bill submitted by a Los Angeles law firm overseeing the liquidation of the bankrupt Easterday ranches and farms in the Columbia Basin, the Capital Press reported. The bill, with others to follow, covers work that lawyers with Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl and Jones did between Feb. 1 and May 31. The rates far exceed what local lawyers involved in the case are seeking and are substantially higher than fees attorneys recently collected in a more complicated bankruptcy case in Eastern Washington, according to Assistant U.S. Trustee Gary Dyer, the government watchdog in the bankruptcy proceeding. The firm vaguely described its services, had too many nonparticipating lawyers attend court hearings and over-billed by miscalculating hours, Dyer claimed. He asked Bankruptcy Judge Whitman Holt to reduce the fees and perhaps withhold them until the L.A. firm provides fuller descriptions of its work.
