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Lawyer seeks legal expenses from ex-partner

 
Published Aug. 4, 1999|Updated Sept. 29, 2005

Another blow was struck Tuesday in the Tampa legal community's fee fight of the year, Steve Yerrid vs. Henry Valenzuela. Yerrid filed papers to make his former legal partner pay as much as $250,000 in legal expenses for the unsuccessful lawsuit he recently brought against Yerrid.

A judge ruled last week that Yerrid did not have to share his $200-million fee from Florida's litigation against the tobacco industry with Valenzuela.

Yerrid and Valenzuela parted ways in 1996 after disagreements about money. After Yerrid won his tobacco fee in 1997, Valenzuela filed suit, claiming he was owed 10 percent of Yerrid's fee under the terms of a separation agreement.