LaxTV Forums | A Forum About The MCLA

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3008498

$30 million total seems a bit much, but then again i am no lawyer

scooter wrote:http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3008498

$30 million total seems a bit much, but then again i am no lawyer

They have millions and millions of dollars in legal fees. Oh and their lives & collegiate athletic careers were pretty much ruined. Can't agree with your logic there scooter.

Sonny wrote:

scooter wrote:http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3008498

$30 million total seems a bit much, but then again i am no lawyer

They have millions and millions of dollars in legal fees. Oh and their lives & collegiate athletic careers were pretty much ruined. Can't agree with your logic there scooter.

Perhaps, but $10 mil each when the entire world knows of your innocence? Still find that a bit excessive.

scooter wrote:Perhaps, but $10 mil each when the entire world knows of your innocence? Still find that a bit excessive.

Some folks still think their are guilty in Durham and on Duke's campus.

As someone said earlier.... the 3 players will always been known as the Duke Lacrosse Rapist. For the rest of their lives. You can put it on their tombstone.

$10 million each is really not that much for what happened to them. First of all, deduct a third for the legal fees for this case; I think a third is about standard for this kind of suit, although there are plenty of people who know more about the law here who can correct me if I'm wrong.

That leaves $20 million. Now deduct the legal fees for the last case. I'm going to guess another $10 million; again, correct me if I'm way off, legal team.

That leaves $3.33 million for each of the victims here. For losing a year of their lives and having their reputations ruined. For being arrested and publicly humiliated. And for having their chance at a national championship ruined (which is, of course, minor compared to the other stuff, but people bring huge lawsuits over that kind of stuff all the time).

So in the grand scheme of things, I don't think this is ridiculous. Compare their suit, for 3 people, to this one for $67 million:

http://dcist.com/2007/04/13/lost_pants_lead.php

Yeah well the difference is...the "pants judge" already got laughed at by the judge.

$3.3 million for a year (of college) lost....my reputation "ruined"....and a nestegg....sign me up.

I don't think it is excessive at all, these guys went through a lot and I guarantee there are a lot of people out there that still think they are guilty. It sounds like they are also putting stipulations into the lawsuit to get Durham to fix their crappy justice system. In my opinion, money is one of the best ways to make the city pay for its screw ups, since they will feel that the most.

Obviously, not a lawyer here.

But what I'd like to see and expert do, is put an number on the wages lost for these guys...? Evans lost his job, and a year of salary and 401K. Who knows what the difference Finnerty will get in job offers coming out of Loyola as compared to Duke (no offense to the Loyola institution). And Sieglemann, who will be a year behind his cohorts in the same age bracket when he leaves Brown.

Don't have the time since I'm watching football, but just figure a 1 year difference of $5000 dollars (1 year contribution in wages) over 60 years of interest. Maybe I'll get on that on Monday to post.

What I'm getting at is, forget the financial burden of the lawyers, what did they lose in future earnings?

Mike Nifong's mug shot from his recent one day trip to jail, courtesy of theSmokingGun.com

The above break down of the $30 million isn't bad, but you're leaving out one major party: Uncle Sam is going to take his share of the $30 million before the lawyers do.

echo 600 wrote:The above break down of the $30 million isn't bad, but you're leaving out one major party: Uncle Sam is going to take his share of the $30 million before the lawyers do.

Yeah, I had wondered about that. How are lawsuit rewards treated with respect to taxes? I would hope that if it's treated as income that only the net is taxed for each individual rather than the gross.

The former Durham district attorney at the heart of the case, Mike Nifong, declined to speak with reporters as he arrived at the jail Friday. He was disbarred for ethics violations in his handling of the case, and a judge found him in contempt for lying to the court when he insisted he had given defense attorneys all results from critical DNA tests.

A small group of supporters accompanied Nifong with signs reading, "We believe in your integrity and goodness."

LINK:
http://www.charlotte.com/news/ap_news/story/267009.html

I would hate to see how these "Nifong supporters" define dishonesty.

LaxRef wrote:

echo 600 wrote:The above break down of the $30 million isn't bad, but you're leaving out one major party: Uncle Sam is going to take his share of the $30 million before the lawyers do.

Yeah, I had wondered about that. How are lawsuit rewards treated with respect to taxes? I would hope that if it's treated as income that only the net is taxed for each individual rather than the gross.

Essentially, they pay tax on the net. The legal fees paid are a deduction against the proceeds of the lawsuit. However, the legal fees for the criminal part of the case are not deductible against the proceeds, so the tax bite will be a lot bigger than one might think.

CATLAX MAN wrote:

LaxRef wrote:

echo 600 wrote:The above break down of the $30 million isn't bad, but you're leaving out one major party: Uncle Sam is going to take his share of the $30 million before the lawyers do.

Yeah, I had wondered about that. How are lawsuit rewards treated with respect to taxes? I would hope that if it's treated as income that only the net is taxed for each individual rather than the gross.

Essentially, they pay tax on the net. The legal fees paid are a deduction against the proceeds of the lawsuit. However, the legal fees for the criminal part of the case are not deductible against the proceeds, so the tax bite will be a lot bigger than one might think.

Can they arrange to get the money paid out over a number of years so the tax bite is less?

LaxRef wrote:

CATLAX MAN wrote:Essentially, they pay tax on the net. The legal fees paid are a deduction against the proceeds of the lawsuit. However, the legal fees for the criminal part of the case are not deductible against the proceeds, so the tax bite will be a lot bigger than one might think.

Can they arrange to get the money paid out over a number of years so the tax bite is less?

Most likely not. If they have contol over when the money is to be received, they are deemed to be in constructive receipt and therefore the entire amount is includible in income. However, a contractural arrangement paying over time might be possible if the case is settled prior to a judgement.