United States First Circuit
Law Offices of David Efron v. Matthews & Fullmer Law Firm, 14–1001
Plaintiff and defendants dispute over how to split attorneys' fees due them as a result of their mutual clients' recovery in the personal injury lawsuit that gave rise to this action. The district court awarded plaintiff 40 percent of the attorneys' fees despite the fact that the parties never modified the original 20-80 arrangement, finding that plaintiff was entitled to more than 20 percent on a quantum meruit basis for the unanticipated work he performed in trying the case. Plaintiff filed a Rule 59(e) motion asking the district court to omit certain findings that indicated that plaintiff made misleading statements and was not credible with respect to aspects of his dispute, which the district court denied. The judgment is affirmed, where: 1) the district court's control over $1,000,000 of the partially executed underlying judgment conferred authority to determine the proper recipients of those funds; 2) there is no basis to disturb the district court's findings as to plaintiff's credibility; and 3) plaintiff fails to show that the district court abused its discretion in determining the relative value of plaintiff's legal services.
Appellate Information
- Decided 04/01/2015
- Published 04/01/2015
Judges
- Kayatta
Court
- United States First Circuit