In February 1995, the State entered into a contingency agreement with several law firms to recover Medicaid expenses paid for tobacco-related illnesses. The contingency provided that the firms receive 25 percent. After the firms sued national tobacco companies, the State settled all claims for an amount estimated at $11.3 billion over 25 years. The settlement included an attorney's fees clause that differed from that in the contingency agreement. The trial court struck the clause in the contingency agreement on grounds it violated Bar rules. The firms went to the Fourth District, which stayed the trial judge's order pending appeal. The Fourth District later reversed, but before it did so, the Legislature appropriated all of the proceeds paid in settlement. The trial court ordered a portion of this money transferred to the court's registry pending appeal. On May 26, 1998, the Fourth District certified the case to the Supreme Court with the following question: "Are the funds derived from the tobacco settlement subject to disbursement by the trial court?"