LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge will let a Nevada state court handle a dispute over how much contingency fee lawyers can take from their client.
U.S. District Court judge Cristina Silva on Dec. 22 refused to change her mind on the issue of remand and denied the motion to dismiss of The Patriot Law Firm and Battle Born Injury Lawyers.
Those firms were sued by client Jesse Castillo, who hired the attorneys to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Nevada state court. At issue are $159,000 in fees and $209,000 in costs.
"(T)he property at stake is a charging lien between the parties," Silva wrote, noting trial courts have jurisdictions to resolve fee disputes.
"And the Eighth Judicial District Court, as the court with jurisdiction over the underlying medical malpractice action for which the attorneys' lien was charged, first obtained jurisdiction over the charging lien."
Castillo disputes the defendant law firms' attorney's fees and litigation cost calculation, alleging it violates Nevada law pertaining to fee agreements.
He claims that in August of 2020, the State Bar of Nevada issued a disciplinary proceeding and found the contingency fee contract - which provided for 47% of the first $50,000 recovered, 33.3% of the next $50,000, 25% of the next $500,000 recovered and 15% of the amount of recovery that exceeds $600,000 - was a greater fee than allowed by Nevada law.
Castillo is staying the federal action until completion of the fee dispute in the state court.
The law firms had argued in their motion to dismiss Castillo was wrong to bring the matter to federal court.
"In essence, Plaintiff is seeking piecemeal litigation in an effort to circumvent the adjudication of Defendants' charging lien in the state court," a Nov. 3 motion to dismiss by the lawyers says.
It adds: "Importantly, the state District Judge's decision... will resolve all outstanding issues between the parties to this Declaratory Judgment action."