Drew Edmondson

Federal court judge Gregory Frizzell ruled last week against the 14 Arkansas-based poultry producers that had challenged the attorney general's contingency fee agreement with the lawyers.

Edmondson sued the 14 companies in 2005, claiming they had polluted the waterways of northeastern Oklahoma with waste from their chicken farms in northwest Arkansas. Defendants include Tyson Foods, Cargill Inc. and Simmons Foods.

Earlier this year the defendants filed a motion with Judge Frizzell to scrap the legal-fee agreement, arguing it would enrich Edmondson's favorite lawyers, LegalNewsLine reported.

The producers argued that the attorney general's contract with Miller & Keffer, LLP; Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison & Lewis; and Motley Rice could net them up to one-third of any financial award to Oklahoma. That's expected to be at least several million dollars.