The Government of Sierea has told a Washington, D.C., federal judge that Jenner & Block’s lawsuit seeking $8 million in legal fees was the “picture of murkiness” and should be thrown out.

The case between Jenner and Block and the Government of Sierra Leone was heard on Monday 19 February 2023.

In a court filing seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, lawyers for Sierra Leone at Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall and Furman said Jenner had not shown it was owed any more than the $3.6 million by the West African nation, who had previously paid to the Chicago-based law firm.

Jenner said in its lawsuit in November that it had “vigorously represented” Sierra Leone in matters involving an iron ore contractor that had been pursuing claims that potentially exposed the country to $1.8 billion in damages. That dispute, according to the lawsuit, was settled without Sierra Leone making any monetary payment.

Jenner’s complaint said the firm “regrettably” was suing Sierra Leone over legal work between 2019 and 2021 that “turned out to be far more complex and voluminous than either party initially contemplated.”

The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. No hearing dates have been set.

Attorneys representing Sierra Leone’s in their filing said that the law firm’s complaint was “void of precision” regarding what Sierra Leone allegedly had agreed to pay Jenner and Block “beyond the terms of the parties’ agreement.”

A lawyer for Sierra Leone and a representative from the country’s U.S. embassy on Tuesday did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

A Jenner attorney who filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond to a similar message.

At the heart of the underlying lawsuit, Sierra Leone claimed concessionaire Gerald International Ltd breached its contract to remove and sell iron ore from mines. Sierra Leone in 2019 retained the 500-lawyer Jenner for work on a matter involving Gerald.

Sierra Leone said the firm “provided valuable services for the Republic. The issue is that these services were valued at an agreed-upon flat fee of $1,500,000 per year.”

Jenner’s lawsuit said Sierra Leone acknowledged that additional payment to the firm was “required and appropriate.”