CLINTON MUST PAY $90,000 TO PAULA JONES' LAWYERS.

Byline: Neil A. Lewis The New York Times

In what could be the final chapter in Paula Jones' sexual misconduct lawsuit, a federal judge on Thursday ordered President Clinton to pay nearly $90,000 to Jones' lawyers in compensation for extra work they performed due to the president's false testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

The amount was far less than the $496,000 sought by the Jones lawyers, and Clinton, through his lawyer, said he would agree to pay the amount specified by Judge Susan Webber Wright on Thursday in Little Rock, Ark. One of the lawyers for Jones said he might appeal Wright's decision as to the amount.

Determining the size of Clinton's financial penalties has been the only remaining issue in Jones' lawsuit charging Clinton with sexual misconduct while he was governor of Arkansas. The lawsuit, which was settled last year with Clinton paying her $850,000 but not admitting guilt, led to the disclosure of the president's efforts to hide his relationship with Lewinsky and eventually to his impeachment.

The financial penalty is part of the unprecedented finding of contempt of court against a president of the United States by a federal judge. Wright ruled in April that the president had been in contempt for knowingly lying about his relationship with Lewinsky when questioned by Jones' lawyers.

``The court takes no pleasure in imposing contempt sanctions against this nation's president and, no doubt like many others, grows weary of this matter,'' Wright said in her 19-page ruling Thursday.

``Nevertheless, the court has determined that the president deliberately violated this court's discovery orders, thereby undermining the integrity of the judicial system, and that sanctions must be imposed to redress the president's misconduct and to deter others who might consider emulating the president's misconduct,'' she said.

When he was deposed here by Jones' lawyers in January 1998 in Wright's presence, Clinton denied that he had engaged in sexual relations with Lewinsky and that he had ever been alone with her but for a fleeting moment.

After Clinton acknowledged last August an improper physical relationship with Lewinsky while she was a White House intern, Wright reacted angrily, saying she would consider whether his behavior might constitute contempt of court.

When Wright finally ruled in April that he had been in contempt, she ordered Clinton to pay the court $1,202 in costs to compensate the government for her travel costs to Washington to preside over his false testimony. She also ordered the president to pay Jones' lawyers for any extra costs they incurred due to his false testimony.

Since that ruling, the president's lawyers and those for Jones have been wrangling over how much he owed.

Robert Bennett, Clinton's principal attorney, had estimated the costs to be no more than $33,000. He said Thursday, ``We accept the judgment of the court and will comply with it.'' White House officials said the president's lawyers were examining whether the president's legal defense fund could be used to pay the costs.

John Whitehead, the head of the Rutherford Institute, a private conservative group that had paid Jones' legal expenses, said he was disappointed with Wright's decision as to the amount. But he said he was pleased that ``the bottom-line philosophy shows that in the end not even a president can get away with lying before a federal judge.''

Whitehead said he was considering an appeal although it is widely believed that such an effort would face great obstacles.

Wright criticized as excessive the submissions by Whitehead and that of the Dallas law firm of Rader, Campbell, Fisher & Pike, which represented Jones.

The Dallas law firm, which had sought nearly $438,000, was awarded $79,999. Whitehead, who had sought more than $58,000 on behalf of the Rutherford Institute, was awarded $9,484.

The judge said the lawyers were entitled only to fees and expenses for the period beginning Dec. 23, 1997, when Clinton first lied about his relationship with Lewinsky by giving false written answers.

She also calculated a portion of the amount owed the lawyers by agreeing with estimates that about 20 percent of the president's Jan. 17, 1998, deposition dealt with Lewinsky.

Jones had charged that in 1991, while Clinton was the governor of Arkansas and she was a state clerical employee, he had her summoned to a Little Rock hotel room where he made a coarse sexual proposition. Clinton denied the account, although he acknowledged he might have had Jones brought to the room for an innocent introduction.

Clinton sought to have the case quashed, but the Supreme Court in 1997 unanimously ruled that the president was subject to civil litigation even in office.

At the deposition, Clinton was asked about his relationship with Lewinsky, a former White House intern. Clinton testified, ``I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.''

Clinton has contended that his denial of a sexual relationship with Lewinsky was ``legally accurate'' under a definition that Wright had approved. But Wright ruled that Clinton's admission last August of ``inappropriate'' conduct with Lewinsky had left it beyond dispute that he gave false testimony in his January deposition.

Wright ultimately dismissed Jones' lawsuit in April 1998, saying the president's behavior, while boorish, did not meet the standard of sexual harassment under federal law.

In Thursday's opinion, Wright repeated her view that the issue of Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky was not central to the sexual harassment case.

Wright also has referred the matter to the Professional Conduct Committee of the Arkansas Supreme Court, which has the power to revoke Clinton's license to practice law or to impose other sanctions on him.

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Photo: Paula Jones 

Sued President Clinton