Equity/Judgment Enforcement/Liens For Attorney Fees: Assignment Of Judgment To Attorney Subject To Offsets As A Matter of Equity

Result No Different Even If Classic Attorney’s Fees Lien Involved.

            Although the facts are too convoluted to discuss in detail, Lalanne v. Armanino, Case No. A147227 (1^st Dist., Div. 5 Aug. 31, 2017) (unpublished) involved a situation where an attorney obtained an assignment of judgment which was held subject to claimed offsets in the form of amounts owed under a prior judgment.  That result stood up on appeal, given that an assignment of judgment takes subject to offsets against the judgment.  However, the appellate court went further, acknowledging that even if a classic attorney’s lien was involved, relative priority of an offset and attorney’s lien is an equitable issue committed to the trial judge’s discretion.  (Crasnick v. Marquez, 248 Cal.App.4^th Supp. 1, 607 (2016).)