Attorney must wait to collect fees

Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Bose Archives

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Thomas J. Herr appeals the trial court’s judgment in his action against Carter Lumber, Inc., the Carter Jones Lumber Company (collectively, "Carter Lumber"), and Brian Oaks for unpaid attorney fees. Herr raises one issue, which we restate as whether the trial court’s order that Herr receive his compensation under a contingency fee agreement only after Carter Lumber makes a recovery is clearly erroneous.


Conclusion (slip op. at 9):  We affirm the trial court’s judgment that Herr is entitled to recover his quantum meruit fee on any collection achieved by successor attorneys.


Key Analysis (slip op. at 8):  Here, the contingency fee agreement did not contain a termination clause. Thus, Herr should receive his attorney fees pursuant to the contingency fee agreement only when Carter Lumber receives payment . . . Moreover, although Herr seeks to receive compensation based upon his hourly fee and the number of hours that he worked on each case, that result would be inconsistent with Galanis. Under Galanis, the terminated attorney receives compensation based upon the "contribution of the discharged lawyer’s efforts to the ultimate result" under quantum meruit.

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