The Dallas Observer’s Unfair Park blog has an update to its August 2011 cover story about Lubbock “high-powered” personal injury lawyer Kevin Glasheen and his work to improve compensation for the growing number of Texas prisoners who have been released following wrongful convictions.

In the latest update, staff writer Brantley Hargrove reports on a settlement between Glasheen and three Texas exonerees who had sued him over the standard contingent fee agreement. The settlement comes after a partial summary judgment from District Judge Ken Molberg that deflated a portion of the plaintiffs’ claims.

As noted in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the judge’s motion stressed that Glasheen’s work was not inconsequential. “Almost literally, Glasheen pulled Phillips’ ox out of the ditch, and Phillips’ lethean indulgence of the facts is unpersuasive,” Molberg wrote.

The settlement also comes following lead plaintiff Steven Phillips’ felony drug possession arrest, which if it results in a conviction, could erase a lifetime of monthly payments that he’s set to receive.

Terms of the settlement are confidential.

Writes Hargrove: Wielding the threat of civil litigation,Glasheen lobbied the state legislature successfully on behalf of Texas exonerees, raising compensation rate from $50,000 a year for every year spent in prison on a bogus conviction to $180,000 in 2009.

Glasheen’s work significantly improved the benefits that Texas exonerees receive for health, education and other areas. Glasheen also successfully persuaded the IRS to discontinue its practice of taxing exonerees at a 33 percent rate. And thanks to changes implemented in the 2009 and 2011 sessions of the Texas Legislature, most exonerees no longer need extensive legal representation to collect fair compensation, which was not the case when Mr. Glasheen was hired.

Glasheen tells Unfair Park he voluntarily refunded portions of his fees to all of the men he represented, not just those who took him to court:

"I contacted all the other clients and gave them a similar refund of some fees, because I didn't want them to be treated any differently than the guys who made claims," Glasheen tells Unfair Park. "It was gratifying to me when some of them said 'You don't need to do that. We thought the fees were fair.’”