Ambiguous Retainer Equals No Fee

A federal judge has ruled that New York law requires a lawyer’s ambiguous retainer agreement to be read in favor of the client.

As a result, Barry Fredericks won’t be able to collect a contingency fee for a case that lost on a motion for summary judgment, then settled while an appeal was pending, the New York Law Journal reports. The appeal had been filed by another lawyer.

Fredericks represented a company in a contract dispute with Slim-Fast over an agreement to distribute products in Israel.