Nebraska Jury Found Additional Requested Appellate Work Was Excluded From Attorneys’ Agreement on Fee Division for Nebraska Counsel Efforts.
As reported on July 31, 2012 by Martha Neil in The American Bar Association Journal, a Lancaster County, Nebraska jury rebuffed a local Nebraska attorney’s attempt to obtain $562,500 more for appellate work based on a contingency percentage from his associated California attorney in a settlement reached with General Motors after a large jury verdict was obtained in an automobile accident case.
Local Nebraska counsel had already been paid $2.25 million, but wanted the additional $562,000 based on what was paid out in total (both trial and appellate work). However, California counsel, which had obtained a $11.25 million fee award, claimed that Nebraska counsel’s division agreement expressly excluded any percentage apportionment for appellate work. The Nebraska jury agreed with California counsel in reaching its verdict.
