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Guess v. Parrott9/16/2003
ng attorney itself, and not the client. See Pryor v. Merten, 127 N.C. App. 483, 485-87, 490 S.E.2d 590, 592-93 (1997), disc. review denied, 347 N.C. 578, 502 S.E.2d 597 (1998).
North Carolina has not addressed the issue of whether an attorney, who before being discharged performed significant services for a client in a contingent fee relationship, may recover from the settling attorney in quantum meruit. Other courts have addressed and resolved the issue. Joye v. Heuer, 813 F.Supp. 1171 (D.S.C. 1993)(court approved of a quantum meruit distribution of the fees among the attorneys in direct proportion to the hours worked in the case); see also Potts v. Mitchell, 410 F.Supp. 1278 (W.D.N.C. 1976) (discharged attorney's quantum meruit recovery was granted from funds being held as the contingency fee). We find these federal decisions persuasive and accordingly we conclude the trial court properly allowed the quantum meruit action by [the discharged attorney] to proceed. To require [the discharged attorney] to proceed against party plaintiffs would unfairly require plaintiffs to pay attorney's fees in excess of the one-third contingency fee to which they agreed. See Covington, 38 N.C. App. at 65, 247 S.E.2d at 308. We believe the more equitable result is to allow the discharged attorney to proceed against the new attorney for the prior attorney's rightful share of the total attorney's fees.
Id. at 487, 490 S.E.2d at 592-93.
Thus, a claim by an attorney who has provided legal service pursuant to a contingency fee agreement and then fired has a viable claim in North Carolina in quantum meruit against the former client or its subsequent representative. Appellee's motion properly states a claim, and the supporting facts necessary thereunder.
Appellant's other arguments in support of this assignment of error are without merit. Thus, this assignment of error is overruled. II.
Appellant next contends that the trial court erred by denying its request for a jury trial on the factual issue of determining the reasonable value of appellee's services rendered to plaintiff before discharge. Appellant argues that Article I, Section 25 and Article IV, Section 13 of our state constitution mandate that this issue be presented to a jury.
Section 25 of our state constitution states: "In all controversies at law respecting property, the ancient mode of trial by jury is one of the best securities of the rights of the people, and shall remain sacred and inviolable." N.C. Const. art. I, ยง 25 (2001).
rticle I, section 25 contains the sole substantive guarantee of the important right to trial by jury under the state constitution while article IV, section 13 ensures that the right as defined in article I will be available in all civil cases, regardless of whether they sound in law or equity.
Kiser v. Kiser, 325 N.C. 502, 507, 385 S.E.2d 487, 489 (1989).
We disagree with appellant, however, and hold that determinations of the reasonable value of services rendered by an attorney, in situations such as the one before us, is the duty of the trial court, reviewable on appeal only for abuse of discretion.
In Kiser, our Supreme Court further stated the law pertaining to the right to a jury trial:
The right to trial by jury under article I has long been interpreted by this Court to be found only where the prerogative existed by statute or at common law at the time the Constitution of 1868 was adopted. Conversely, where the prerogative did not exist by statute or at common law upon the adoption of the Constitution of 1868, the right to trial by jury is not constitutionally protected today. Where the cause of a
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