Firm Loses Fee Appeal
A New York judge has ordered a law firm to return legal fees for an appeal and collateral litigation because the original fee agreement never specified additional payment beyond a one-third contingency.
Katz & Associates had taken a fee of about $870,000 out of a $1.7 million judgment for its client, who sued a bartender for assaulting him, the New York Law Journal reports. The firm represented the client through an appeal and in collateral litigation with insurance companies.
Judge Carol Edmead said the client had originally retained a Katz lawyer when he worked at a different firm, and it was that firm that obtained the original retainer agreement. It called for a one-third contingency.
“A client retaining an attorney on a contingent basis, in the absence of clear and express language to the contrary, contemplates that the percentage fixed is to constitute payment for whatever services may be necessary to obtain collection of any judgment which may be recovered,” she wrote in the July 26 opinion (PDF posted by New York Lawyer).
