Larry Birkhead and Debra Opri Still Fighting
And the Anna Nicole Smith saga rages on. Larry Birkhead and his former attorney, Debra Opri, are still fighting over money.
If you recall, Opri claimed Birkhead owed her over $600,000 in legal fees. Birkhead thought not. Hilarity ensued. Now Birkhead is offering Opri $300,000 in settlement and Opri’s saying "thanks but no thanks." It appears to be a rather bitter dispute too because neither party would sit in the same room with the other.
As Harris reveals on his "The Bald Truth" blog at artharris.com, the once-tight pair agreed to discuss settling their financial falling out on neutral turf — a mediation office in Los Angeles specializing "in dicey conflict resolution, from mega-million-dollar Hollywood divorces to business deals gone bust," Harris reports. "[But they] never saw each other. They sat in separate rooms with their lawyers, coffee and pastries, as a retired LA Superior Court judge shuttled offers and counter offers back and forth for hours." Still, no dice.
"The deal would have saved all parties further wrangling over $620,000 in legal fees for representing Birkhead in his quest for custody of baby Dannielynn," sources told Harris. Birkhead is disputing what he says are pumped-up legal fees, including dry-cleaning bills, expensive meals and at least one trip by Opri to the Bahamas.
His lawyer, Michael Trope, told Page Six: "Larry made a generous offer to settle. It’s not like he was trying to walk away… She made a counter-offer, which we elected to decline." We couldn’t reach Opri, but she confirmed to Harris that negotiations had gone bust, calling her rejection of a settlement a "matter of principle," although she disputed Harris’ numbers.
Way to waste the taxpayers money there, Deb.
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