Procedural and Merit Grounds Led To The Same Result.
Moore v. Orloff & Associates APC, Case No. G052463 (4th Dist., Div. 3 April 18, 2017) (unpublished) shows that attorney’s liens are subject to equitable principles. The trial judge after a prior appellate remand found that the attorney was not entitled to vie as a competitor for settlement proceeds despite asserting an attorney’s lien. That result was affirmed on appeal, in an opinion authored by Acting Presiding Justice Bedsworth. Two reasons justified the affirmance: (1) attorneys did not file a separate action to adjudicate the merits of their lien; and, notwithstanding that procedural nuance, (2) attorneys abandoned client at a perilous juncture such that recovery was not appropriate whether their relationship was an hourly or contingency arrangement. Further, the modest victory producing the settlement fund was not produced by attorneys’ efforts, another equitable reason to sustain the lower court’s denial of the attorney’s lien against settlement funds.
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