Cases: Retainer Agreements

Law Receivable Collection: Don’t Use An Associate To Collect Fees If You Want To Recover Prevailing Party Attorney’s Fees Under Retainer Fees Clause

Cases: Retainer Agreements

Second District, Division 8 Reinforces the Lesson in Recent Unpublished Decision.      In Law Offices of Nejadpour & Associates v. Gonzalez, Case No. B212803 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Nov. 9, 2009) (unpublished), a professional law corporation (PLC) successfully won a judgment for delinquent fees from a former client. The retainer agreement had a fees clause.

Retainer Agreements: LLC Managing Member Held Liable To Former Attorneys For $210,613.39

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Retainer Agreements

  First District, Division 5 Affirms Judgment Against LLC Managing Member.      LLC managing member signed a retainer letter with an affiliated management company and paid litigation attorneys through checks drawn on dba accounts, before deciding to terminate the attorneys having a sizable receivable. After a lot of procedural and lower court tussles, attorneys finally

Retainer Agreements: Quantum Meruit Award of $22,670.24 To Discharged Contingency Fee Attorney, After Offsets, Is Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Quantum Meruit, Cases: Retainer Agreements

Fourth District, Division 2 Construes “Recovery” Fee Retainer Language Against Drafting Attorney.      The next decision demonstrates that practitioners need to be careful how they draft retainer agreements. Because the drafter is usually an attorney, any ambiguity will likely be construed in favor of the client. That is what occurred in the next case, involving

Retainer Agreements: Unhappy Lawyer Loses Potential $2 Million Contingency Fee Award Based On Noncompliance With Business and Professions Code Section 6147

Cases: POOF!, Cases: Quantum Meruit, Cases: Retainer Agreements

Fourth District, Division 3 Affirms Trial Court’s Quantum Meruit Award of $364,110 to Attorney Instead.      For attorneys entering into contingency fee arrangements with clients, it is essential to comply with Business and Professions Code section 6147, which requires that contingency fee agreements specify (1) the agreed-upon contingency fee rate, (2) the manner in which

Attorney’s Fee Ethics: Orange County Law Article Covers Wide Range Of Topics

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Ethics, Cases: Liens for Attorney Fees, Cases: Retainer Agreements

February 2009 Article by Carole Buckner Covers Many Ethical Issues.      In the February 2009 edition of the Orange County Lawyer, Carole J. Buckner writes an article, “Ethics Opinions Provide Guidance in Resolving Attorneys’ Fee Issues,” covering a wide-ranging array of ethical issues relating to attorney’s fees.      Here is a synopsis of issues discussed

Mandatory Fee Arbitration Settlement: Winning Party Reserved Right To Recover Fees and Did Obtain $120,000 In Fees And $7,097.99 In Costs From Losing Attorney

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Retainer Agreements, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes, Cases: Standard of Review

First District, Division Four Affirms Fee/Costs Award on Appeal.      In our category “Cases: Settlement,” we have reviewed past decisions where parties have won substantial fee/costs awards after reserving the issue for future determination as part of a settlement in an underlying case. The next opinion is one arising from the settlement of a lawsuit

Ellen Peck’s January 2009 Article In California Bar Journal Has Nice Tips For Recovering Fees in Contingency, Limited Partner, Executor, and Client Fee Sharing Representations

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Probate, Cases: Quantum Meruit, Cases: Referral Agreements, Cases: Retainer Agreements, CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION

  Ms. Peck Reviews Stroud, Shimko, Miller, and Strong Decisions.      Ellen R. Peck, a former State Bar Court judge and Encino solo practitioner, has written a fine article in the January 2009 edition of the California Bar Journal with astute tips of upfront, prophylactic actions that can be taken for successfully recovering fees in

SECOND DISTRICT FINDS THAT ATTORNEY FEE RETAINER AGREEMENT CONTAINING AN ARBITRATION CLAUSE WAS NOT UNCONSCIONABLE

Cases: Retainer Agreements, Cases: Unconscionability

Court of Appeal, in Unpublished Opinion, Reverses Trial Court Ruling of Unconscionability.             In order to avoid being relegated to quantum meruit recovery, most attorneys obtain client signatures on written attorney fee retainer agreements, which set forth the terms and conditions on which they will provide services to the particular client.  Business

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