The legal bill for the settlement, which includes $290,000 paid to Dobelle's legal team, and an estimated $750,000 due to UH lawyers, enabled the university to avoid at least $4.5 million that would have been paid if Dobelle had been fired without cause and his contract paid off, regent Kitty Lagareta said.

Lagareta, vice chairwoman for the board, today confirmed the receipt of the legal bills; chairwoman Patricia Lee is traveling, she said.

According to a written statement issued by the regents, the university will submit a claim to its insurance carrier for partial reimbursement of legal costs, but it was uncertain today how much of the expenditures it could recoup.

Lagareta said university general counsel Walter Kirimitsu has been collecting the bills that already arrived — about $650,000 — and yesterday informed regents and UH officials that about $100,000 more are expected.

She said the bill from the lead law firm representing the University — McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon — also includes fees for professional services such as a forensic audit and communications with news media.

Under the settlement negotiated in mediation, Dobelle received $1,050,000 in cash; his attorney's fees of $290,000; a $250,000 salary for a two-year, nontenured term; and $240,000 in life insurance, a payment that will be reimbursed to UH later. The total of $1.59 million, added to the UH legal bills, brings the cost of the ouster to about $2.3 million.

"That's a whole lot less than the $4.5 million we would have paid him if we just terminated him," she said. "In our view, yes this is a lot of money, but in the scheme of the contract he was given in 2001, it was a major success.

"We think our lawyers did a great job and earned every cent."

Rick Fried, lead attorney for Dobelle's team, today declined detailed comment until he received further information.