Background
Plaintiffs Nick Merrifield and Merrifield Machinery Solutions sued ATS Advisors, James Sullivan, and Shane Randell for accounting malpractice and sought to recover attorney fees as an element of their damages. The Oakland Circuit Court dismissed that claim, and the Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the American rule barred recovery of attorney fees as damages.
Source: GOESEL v. BOLEY INTERNATIONAL (HK) LTD., Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit 2015 – Google Scholar
This case concerns an appeal by a law firm of a decision by the district court to reduce a contingent fee award.
The parties agreed to a contingent fee under which the lawyers would receive one-third of any award and the expenses would be covered by the clients.
Source: PARALLEL NETWORKS, LLC v. JENNER & BLOCK LLP, Tex: Court of Appeals, 5th Dist. 2015 – Google Scholar
This is a decision affirming an arbitrator’s award of legal fees to Jenner & Block. The case is a typical attorney-client fee dispute, but here the Court enforced the parties’ arbitration clause.
The fee dispute arose out of patent litigation handled by Jenner & Block for Parallel Networks. Jenner & Block ultimately withdrew from the litigation after locating successor counsel for Parallel Networks. Jenner & Block cited the client’s failure to pay invoices on a timely basis and its lack of economic resources to continue the litigation.
EXACT SOFTWARE NORTH AMERICA, INC. v. DeMOISEY, Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit 2013 – Google Scholar.
This is a dispute between an attorney and a client concerning an attorney lien. Such disputes are common. This case illustrates the correct way to protect a disputed legal fee with an attorney lien.
The Sixth Circuit has affirmed a legal fee award of $1.4 million to a lawyer who brought proceedings to enforce an attorney lien. The underlying dispute was a software licensing dispute between two companies, which occurred in the federal district court. Infocon was to receive a $5 million settlement from Exact Software, Inc. Just before the settlement was finalized, Infocon fired its lawyer, J Fox DeMoisey. DeMoisey placed a charging lien on the proceeds of the litigation. The district court froze the disputed portion of the settlement ($1.2 million) pending the outcome of litigation.
Chicago Legal Malpractice Lawyer Blog