Another Reason Why Lawyers Suck

From the San Fran Chronicle: The city of Santa Rosa has agreed to pay $1.05 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a mentally ill man who was shot to death by police, attorneys said Wednesday.
The payout draws to a close protracted litigation over the 2007 killing of Richard DeSantis. It comes several months after a federal judge overturned a jury's $511,000 damage award and granted the city's request for a new trial.
"I think it's a fair outcome," said John Burris, an attorney for the family.
Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm said Wednesday that his officers had "acted appropriately" in a "rapidly-evolving situation. It was a tragic outcome. No one wanted that type of an outcome but unfortunately as it was, they were within the legal right to do what they did."
The city will pay $500,000, with the rest covered by insurance. The settlement, reached in May, includes $735,000 in attorneys' fees. The rest was awarded to DeSantis' 9-year-old daughter, his widow and his mother.  http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Santa-Rosa-to-pay-family-of-man-cops-killed-1-05-4685054.php
So, who won the case?  Certainly no the City- they were fools to settle.
Not the family, they got about $270,000 out of $1,005,000.
Who did win?  The lawyers who got $735,000 out $1,005,000 or 74% of the settlement.