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Guess v. Parrott9/16/2003
PUBLISHED
This appeal arises out of a dispute between attorneys for the firms of appellant Lloyd T. Kelso & Associates and appellee Melrose, Seago & Lay, P.A., as to entitlement to attorneys' fees stemming from the underlying case. The underlying case involved an automobile accident that occurred on 24 July 1999 in which plaintiff Johnny Robert Guess, Jr., was injured when his vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer driven by defendant Terry Anthony Parrott.
Shortly after the accident, plaintiff's father and brother, on 26 July 1999, contacted the appellee law firm of Melrose, Seago & Lay, P.A., and made arrangements with Randal Seago to represent plaintiff. On 29 July 1999, plaintiff and Randal Seago entered into a contingency fee agreement in which plaintiff promised to pay appellee one-third of any recovery. Further, plaintiff would reimburse appellee for expenses and costs advanced by it.
Mr. Seago went about the task of representing plaintiff. He filed a complaint on 6 January 2000. The parties negotiated at mediation, asking for $750,000.00. A settlement could not be reached as defendants would not go above $200,000.00. Plaintiff would not lower his demand under $650,000.00. Therefore, this matter went to trial on 29 January 2001. During the trial, a "high/low agreement" was made by the parties that guaranteed plaintiff $250,000.00, plus $15,000.00 for costs, regardless of the outcome, but capped recovery at $800,000.00. Defendants increased their offer to $350,000.00, but it was not accepted. The trial ended deadlocked at 10-2 in favor of defendants, and a mistrial was declared.
Following the unsuccessful trial, Seago and other attorneys at appellee law firm were involved in negotiations with their client, plaintiff, and defendants. Plaintiff made a settlement offer of $500,000.00, while defendants were willing to settle for $265,000.00. Both offers were rejected by the respective parties.
Plaintiff became dissatisfied with the representation provided to him by appellee law firm and informed them of such. Acceding to plaintiff's wishes, appellee filed a motion to withdraw on 23 April 2001. An order granting such was entered on 20 April 2001.
Thereafter, plaintiff secured the services of appellant Lloyd Kelso of Lloyd T. Kelso & Associates. Plaintiff entered into a contingency fee agreement with Kelso, promising to pay 35% of the amount recovered. Once retained, Kelso reviewed plaintiff's file that he had brought over from appellee. Kelso developed a strategy and hired several new experts. Kelso also revisited witnesses, including some who did not testify in the previous trial.
By September 2001, Kelso approached defendants about settlement. Kelso made a new request on behalf of plaintiff in the amount of $1,286,421.30. On 14 January 2002, a hearing was held as to the validity of the "high/low agreement" from the first trial and the issue of apportioning attorneys' fees between plaintiff's attorneys. The parties were ordered into mediation and eventually settled plaintiff's case for $525,000.00 on 22 January 2002. This amount was able to be procured, appellant contends, largely because of its work on the case. Further, appellant contends that had the "high/low agreement" not been in effect, the recovery could have been more. Either way, this amount was in excess of what plaintiff was offered during appellee's representation of plaintiff. The attorneys' fees issue was not resolved in mediation.
On 4 February 2002, appellee filed a motion requesting a portion of the attorneys' fees in the case. Appellant filed its motion in opposition on 15 February 2002, requesting a jury trial on the iss
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