The article said ". . . The government settled in 1999 and has paid out nearly $1 billion in damages on almost 16,000 claims. . ."  I don't know how much the lawyers received but my poor math tells me that figures out to be a fair chunk of change per claim, at least by the budgets I work with.

It appears extorting from the government has been legalized, even encouraged, for some segments of the population.