Lewis and Mandel Secure Summary Judgment
March 2, 2018 |Shari Claire Lewis and Anna Mandel secured summary judgment dismissal of claims against the firm’s client, an attorney. The action, venued in New York State Supreme Court Nassau County, was brought by a former client of the attorney. The dispute was based on the legal fees earned in connection with the underlying multi-million dollar contract.
Adopting our legal arguments, the Court denied plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment in its entirety. The Court also dismissed, as matter of law, plaintiff’s claims.
The Court agreed with our reasoning that an agreement was formed between the parties. The Court also agreed that, pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.20, our client was not obligated to file a retainer agreement with the Office of Court Administration of the State of New York because the nature of the legal services rendered triggered an exception to the filing rule.
The Court ruled that our client is entitled to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees he earned for his representation of the plaintiff, and that he may also be entitled, on a quantum meruit basis, to future legal fees based upon the underlying contract which calls for periodic payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to plaintiff over the course of many years.
