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Kline v. Eyrich3/1/2002
The primary issue in this case is whether a trial court may use the common fund doctrine in a wrongful death action to spread attorneys' fees equitably among the surviving beneficiaries of the action. The trial court consolidated two wrongful death actions, which were brought by the surviving spouse and children of the decedent, and it gave the surviving spouse control of the consolidated action. After the suit was settled, the trial court awarded the surviving spouse's attorney one- third of the settlement proceeds as a fee. On appeal, the children argued that the trial court improperly awarded fees to the surviving spouse's attorney from their share of the settlement because they possessed no contract with that attorney. A majority of the Court of Appeals held that although the award of fees could be proper under the common fund doctrine, the case should be remanded to resolve factual ambiguities in the record. We granted permission to appeal and hold that a trial court has the discretion to apply the common fund doctrine to the proceeds of a wrongful death action, thereby obliging the beneficiaries of that action to pay a reasonable fee to the attorney procuring the judgment or settlement. We also hold that the record contains no evidence showing that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding fees to the surviving spouse's attorney. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part.
Tenn. R. App. P. 11 Application for Permission to Appeal; Judgment of the Court of Appeals Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part
William M. Barker, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Frank F. Drowota, III, C.J., and E. Riley Anderson, Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., and Janice M. Holder, JJ., joined.
OPINION
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On April 10, 1999, Richard Kline was killed when a car driven by Daniel Eyrich struck his motorcycle. He was survived by his wife, appellant Tammy L. M. Kline, and by his three children of a former marriage, appellees Lori Michelle Kline, Kristy Laine Kline, and Diana Marie Kline. Shortly after this accident, the children contacted the appellant about filing a wrongful death action against Mr. Eyrich, but they received no response from her. Consequently, on April 30, 1999, the children sued Mr. Eyrich in the Knox County Circuit Court for the wrongful death of their father. Less than three weeks later, however, the appellant filed a separate wrongful death action in the same court, claiming preemptive rights to sue as the surviving spouse and demanding damages for herself and for the three children.
The trial court initially consolidated the two cases, allowing each party to proceed independently with pre-trial discovery, but on April 19, 2000, it issued an order clarifying the roles of the parties.
In this order, the court held that the appellant was the "proper party . . . to prosecute the singular cause of action for the wrongful death of Richard E. Kline in all respects," and that she "was empowered to enter into a bona fide settlement of the claim," which would be binding on the children. The trial court also held that the appellant's attorney had the right to conduct all aspects of the proof at trial, but it reserved the right to permit the children to establish their own damages for loss of consortium.
Within two weeks of the court's order, the appellant's attorney negotiated a settlement with Mr. Eyrich for $1,100,000.00. On May 8, 2000, the children filed a motion to have their statutory share of the settlement paid directly to them. In response to this motion, the appellant's attorney asserted that he was entitled to receive $244,444.44 as a fee from the c
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