In a footnote in his declaration, Hackett said the State Department has received nearly 14,000 new requests since October 2014 "and is currently engaged in nearly 80 FOIA litigation cases, many of which involve court-ordered document production schedules".
The judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan, disallowed the charges at a hearing after rejecting lawyers' justifications for the expenses, which involved interest paid on loans that helped finance about $30 million in litigation costs.
Which involve wars, violence, sex.
On the spending side, according to the Federal Election Commission, the funds can only go toward expenses directly related to the recount, such as paying the state staff that counts the votes or any other administrative or overhead payments, as well as post-election litigation (which, as with anything involving lawyers, can be pricey).
"This matter involves ongoing litigation which will resolve itself in due course.
Many claims also involve court litigation, which greatly magnifies settlement costs.
We all probably walked away [not] feeling great, but a good compromise is usually a good compromise, and that's what you want your attorneys to do, and a lot of those involved no litigation, which kept the costs very low for both sides," he added.
Beginning in the late 80's, the site of the Palisades was involved in a tangle of litigation, which ended last year.
