SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge says a northwest Iowa couple owe a lawyer $2.18 million more for representing them in talks that resulted in a $7.5 million settlement with Sioux City. The judge said in her lawsuit ruling filed Monday that attorney Stan Munger’s contingency fee contract with Chad and Rosanne Plante was “reasonable and valid.” The Sioux City Journal reports that Judge Nancy Whittenburg said Munger was entitled to receive 33 percent of the settlement the city paid the Plantes to resolve claims from a 2016 bus crash that caused serious injuries to Chad Plante.
The Plantes already authorized Munger to withdraw $380,000 from the settlement. He says they told him the contingency fee agreement “is against public policy.”