The Arizona Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal from the law firm representing plaintiffs in the Ladewig tax case. Bonn & Wilkins of Phoenix was seeking to be paid $42 million rather than the $15 million ordered by the Maricopa County Superior Court in late 2002.

The dismissal, ordered March 17 but made public only on March 23, came after the appeal had been set for oral arguments on April 28. Randall Wilkins of Bonn & Wilkins couldn’t be reached on whether the firm will petition the Supreme Court for review.

In other Ladewig-related appeals, the three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments in Phoenix lawyer Robert Kamman’s appeal over the settlement, has handed the case off to another panel of judges. An order dated March 22 substitutes Judges G. Murray Snow, James B. Sult and Jon Thompson for Presiding Judge Donn Kessler and Judges Philip Hall and Susan A. Ehrlich. Actually, Judge Ehrlich didn’t sit in on the Feb. 25 oral argument – Judge Daniel A. Barker did.

Mr. Kamman’s appeal contends the $350 million settlement violates the state Constitution’s ban on giving away state assets, because it gives refunds to many people who don’t deserve them for mere “administrative convenience.”

The case is named for Helen H. Ladewig, who was the initial plaintiff in the lawsuit that ultimately declared unconstitutional the state’s policy of taxing the dividends of out-of-state business but levying a lower income tax rate, or no tax at all, on companies that did most of their business in Arizona.

Ms. Ladewig died before the litigation ran its course over more than 10 years, but the lawsuit eventually was certified as a class action. Approximately 650,000 taxpayers are expected to begin getting refunds in the settlement beginning in June. —