By Katie Fairbank
AP Business Writer
Thursday, May 28, 1998; 7:05 p.m. EDT

DALLAS (AP) -- Several of the private attorneys interviewed by Attorney General Dan Morales to join Texas' case against Big Tobacco were asked to give $1 million each to create a legal defense fund in case the industry sued him, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Attorney Joe Jamail, in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Texarkana, said Morales offered him the position of lead attorney in the tobacco case in a 1995 meeting, but he turned it down when Morales proposed the fund.

``The money was purportedly for the purpose of defending General Morales against possible attacks from the tobacco companies,'' according to an affidavit from Jamail.

Jamail said he considered the proposed fund ``totally unacceptable'' and ``legally questionable and suspect.''

In his documents, Jamail did not say how many lawyers were at the meeting, but he did say several others also refused to participate in Morales' fund and left, including one who said he thought Morales' solicitation must have been ``a sting operation.''

Five lawyers who ultimately helped Texas broker a record $15.3 billion settlement are now battling Gov. George Bush and state legislators who have filed legal challenges over the attorneys' $2.3 billion fees.

The challenges are pending and must be resolved before the overall settlement can become final.

Jamail's documents were filed Thursday by the legislators seeking to reduce the private attorneys' fees.

Neither Morales nor Jamail immediately responded to interview requests from The Associated Press.

However, Sonya Sanchez, a Morales spokeswoman, said, ``We have not seen the actual document, but the allegations you have described to us are untrue.''

She called the entering of Jamail's affidavit ``an obvious and blatant attempt to divert attention'' from getting the settlement finalized.

Tom Banning, a spokesman for the private attorneys, agreed. ``They're trying to create a sideshow,'' he said.

On Wednesday, the attorney general asked a federal judge to fine the Republican governor and seven state lawmakers from both parties $25 million for what he called their interference with the state's tobacco settlement.

Bush accused Morales of filing a ``frivolous lawsuit.''

Thursday's filings from Jamail did not say whether the fund Morales sought was ever created by the private attorneys. The industry has not taken any legal action against Morales.

Jamail is best known for representing Pennzoil in a 1987 case that yielded a $3 billion settlement and drove Texaco into bankruptcy. In 1995, Forbes magazine named him the No. 1 trial lawyer in the nation.

Jamail's documents note that one of the lawyers who stayed in the 1995 meeting with Morales was Walter Umphrey, who later became lead counsel for the state's tobacco lawsuit.

Umphrey did not immediately return calls Thursday.

Last week Morales asked U.S. District Judge David Folsom of Texarkana to block Jamail's deposition.

Folsom had yet to rule on Morales' request when legislators filed pieces of Jamail's original affidavit with the court.