Brown v. Seimers
726 So. 2d 1018, 1999 WL 11234 (1999)
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Rule of Law:
When an attorney is disbarred before a case concludes and there is no valid written fee-sharing agreement, the disbarred attorney is entitled to a fee based on quantum meruit, representing the reasonable value of the services performed before disbarment, not an automatic equal split under a joint venture theory.
Facts:
- On October 5, 1988, the Louis Dreyfus Grain Elevator exploded.
- The next day, attorney J.T. Hill filed a lawsuit on behalf of claimants but did not serve the defendants.
- In 1989, Hill, facing disciplinary proceedings, asked attorney Vernon P. Thomas to take over the Dreyfus case as it became likely Hill would lose his law license.
- In 1991, Hill delivered his case files, which included rosters and the original petition, to Thomas's office.
- Thomas took over the litigation, organized the files, had clients execute new fee contracts, filed an amended petition, conducted all discovery, and handled the class certification process.
- Hill performed no discovery and his involvement was limited to filing the initial petition and signing up some of the original potential class members.
- In November 1992, Hill voluntarily surrendered his license to practice law and performed no further legal work on the case.
Procedural Posture:
- After a class action lawsuit regarding the Louis Dreyfus Grain Elevator explosion settled, J.T. Hill intervened, seeking a share of attorney's fees awarded to Vernon P. Thomas.
- The trial court conducted a trial on Hill's intervention.
- Following the trial, the judge awarded Hill 15% of the contingency contract fees on a quantum meruit basis, with the remaining 85% going to Thomas.
- Hill, as the intervenor-appellant, appealed the trial court's judgment to the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.
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Issue:
In the absence of a written fee-sharing agreement, is a disbarred attorney who originated a case entitled to an equal split of the final attorney's fees under a joint venture theory, or is the fee division based on quantum meruit in proportion to the services each attorney rendered?
Opinions:
Majority - Cannella, Judge
No. A disbarred attorney is not automatically entitled to an equal split of fees under a joint venture theory where there is no written agreement; the fee division must be based on quantum meruit, reflecting the reasonable value of the services each attorney rendered. The court distinguished precedents that mandate an equal split in a joint venture, such as McCann v. Todd, because those cases involved attorneys who both remained jointly responsible for the case until its conclusion. Here, Hill's participation ended when he surrendered his law license in 1992, long before the case settled. Thomas performed the 'lion's share' of the work, including class certification, discovery, mediation, and settlement. Therefore, the joint venture theory is inapplicable. The court held that a quantum meruit analysis, considering factors from Rule 1.5 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, is the appropriate method to determine Hill's share, affirming the trial court's award of 15% as reasonable for his initial 'rainmaking' and early case management efforts.
Analysis:
This decision clarifies the limits of the 'joint venture' doctrine for attorney fee-splitting in Louisiana. It establishes that when one attorney's participation in a case is terminated, particularly due to disbarment, the default rule of an equal fee split does not apply. Instead, courts must employ a quantum meruit analysis to apportion the fee based on the actual value of the work each attorney performed. This precedent protects attorneys who undertake the majority of litigation work from having to share fees equally with an originating attorney who was unable to see the case through to completion.
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