The Washington superlawyer representing opponents to a proposed 20% cap on contingency fees in Nevada argues the cap would place “unprecedented limits on ordinary Nevadans to obtain legal representation.”
Yet that same lawyer signed off on a $125 million settlement earlier this year that provided for $23.9 million in fees— a substantial payday, but less than the 20% rate he argues will make it impossible for lawyers to represent their clients.
Attorney Deepak Gupta is one of the nation’s best-known appellate lawyers, a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau litigator who frequently argues on behalf of liberal causes and trial lawyers. He represents Uber Sexual Assault Survivors for Legal Accountability, a group formed to fight a ballot initiative to put a cap on the fees lawyers can collect in civil suits.
In the lawsuit filed in Nevada court, Gupta argues Uber “wants to stop survivors from hiring lawyers.”
“Because lawyers take on substantial risks and costs in suing companies as powerful and aggressive as Uber—which have all the resources in the world to draw out litigation and play hardball—many charge the industry average rate of between 33% to 40% just to stay afloat,” he argues in the group’s the April 8 lawsuit. “A contingency fee is the only way that ordinary people can go toe-to-toe with companies like Uber and vindicate their rights.”
Gupta’s law firm, Gupta Wessler, is active in contingency fee litigation including fighting to uphold nearly half a billion dollars in jury verdicts against Monsanto over PCBs found in school light fixtures. He is also defending a $200 million verdict against United Health over insurance bad faith and serves as outside counsel for the American Association for Justice, the primary U.S. trial lawyer organization.
Gupta’s arguments against the fee cap failed to convince Carson City District Court Judge James Russell, however. In a May 10 ruling, Judge Russell dismissed arguments Prop. 22 was unconstitutional and allowed it to proceed. Uber is supported by Nevada retailers and the trucking industry, but still must collect more than 100,000 signatures spread among the state’s four congressional districts. The measure is sure to face fierce opposition from trial lawyers, who contribute heavily to political campaigns in Nevada.
The only cap on contingency fees currently in Nevada is a 25% limit in medical malpractice cases. That cap passed as part of a package that also increased the damages limit from $350,000 to $750,000 by 2028, with a 2.1% annual increase after that.