Lobbying firm settles contingency-fee case

BOSTON – A lobbying firm will pay $100,000 to resolve allegations it profited from an inappropriate contingency-fee agreement with a Brighton, Mass., hospital, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week.
According to a statement, the Brennan Group Inc. will return $100,000 to Franciscan Hospital for Children for allegedly arranging contingency-fee agreements in violation of lobbying laws.
Coakley said that lobbying firms are prohibited from entering into contingency-fee agreements because they create an appearance of “impropriety.”
According to a disposition agreement between Brennan and the state, in July 2006, Brennan entered into a new payment contract with the hospital, a pediatric rehabilitation facility. In the contract, the Brennan Group agreed to lobby the legislature on the hospital’s behalf with respect to certain payments.
In exchange, the hospital agreed to pay the Brennan Group fees on any subsequent government payments received by the hospital.
Coakley’s office alleges that the payments made to the Brennan Group by the hospital were contingent upon the passage of legislation and therefore violated state law. •

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