Keller Postman, McKool Smith Bill Texas $136 Million in Meta Win

Keller Postman and McKool Smith say Texas owes them a combined $136 million in contingency fees for helping the state obtain a record $1.4 billion settlement from Meta for abusing Texans’ facial recognition data.

Keller Postman is billing the state $93.36 million in fees plus $3.29 million in reimbursable expenses for some 28,000 billable hours spent on the case, according to information obtained by Bloomberg Law under the state’s public records law. McKool Smith worked half the amount of hours as Keller Postman, with partners recording the bulk of it. Overall, the firm say it’s owed $42.6 million in fees, plus $3.37 million in expenses.

The $1.26 billion remaining from the settlement stays with Texas and is up to lawmakers to decide how to spend.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) office didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday on the proposed payments and whether it believes the figures are accurate.

In a statement, Keller Postman partner Zina Bash said her firm “spent countless hours and advanced millions of dollars to help bring this momentous settlement to fruition. And the result speaks for itself: the largest settlement achieved by a single State in U.S. history—a win for privacy rights and for Texas taxpayers.”

Bash sent Texas her firm’s fees request in a letter dated Nov. 26, a day after McKool Smith principal Samuel Baxter sent his.

A McKool Smith spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The nearly identical contracts called for the firms, if successful in securing a monetary victory, to collect the lesser of 11% of the state’s recovery, which would’ve been $154 million per firm, or four times lawyers’ and paralegals’ base hourly rates. Partners and other seasoned attorneys billed at $945 per hour.

Combined, the $136 million the firms calculated in the hourly rate is far less than the $308 million for which Texas would’ve been on the hook had the 11% recovery applied.

Meta Platforms Inc. paid Texas $500 million in August and has made arrangements to pay the rest, Bash said in her letter.

The case is Texas v. Meta Platforms, Tex. Dist. Ct., No. 22-0121.