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PST Vans12/28/1999
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED
This is an action of interpleader. It presents a dispute between the widow of Lowell Kenneth Reed ("Reed") and one of his three adult children. The plaintiffs in the instant case, PST Vans, Inc. ("PST") and James A. Coutermarsh ("Coutermarsh"), are judgment debtors as a result of an action filed in federal court by Rosie Clark Reed ("the Widow") seeking to recover for the wrongful death of her husband. Ginger Gayle Reed ("the Daughter"), one of Reed's children by an earlier marriage, intervened in the federal court action. Because of a disagreement between the Widow and the Daughter regarding the proper division of the funds from the wrongful death action, the plaintiffs filed this action and deposited $172,163.15 with the clerk of the trial court. Following a hearing on January 26, 1999, the trial court filed its memorandum opinion adopting the disposition of the funds suggested by the Widow. The Daughter appeals, raising the following issues:
1. Did the trial court err in assessing the attorney's fees of the Widow and her litigation expenses against the entire fund?
2. Did the trial court err in finding the Widow's expenses to be reasonable, and should the expenses - - that could have been, but were not, recovered from the defendants in the wrongful death action -- be charged against the Daughter's share of the proceeds?
3. Did the trial court err in denying the Daughter's motion for stay and in distributing the proceeds immediately?
I.
The basic facts in the wrongful death action and the events leading up to it are not in dispute.
Reed died June 27, 1993, when the motorcycle that he was riding collided with a truck driven by Coutermarsh, an employee of PST. Shortly after the accident, the Widow hired Joe H. Nicholson, Esquire, and his law firm, Nicholson, Garner & Duggan (collectively "the Nicholson law firm"), to represent her in pursuing a claim against Coutermarsh and PST for the wrongful death of her husband. The Nicholson law firm subsequently prepared and filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga styled "Rosie C. Reed, individually and as widow of Lowell Kenneth Reed, deceased v. PST Vans, Inc., a corporation, and James A. Coutermarsh." On September 6, 1995, the federal court entered an order permitting the Daughter to intervene as a party in the pending wrongful death action. That court found "that without intervention [the Daughter's] interest as a practical matter would not be protected nor would her interest be `adequately represented by existing parties,'" quoting from Rule 24(a), Fed.R.Civ.P. The Daughter was represented in the federal court action, as she is here, by Wanda G. Sobieski, Esquire, and her law firm, Sobieski, Messer & Associates (collectively "the Sobieski law firm").
The federal court action went to trial before a jury. That jury found in favor of the Widow's claim and assessed damages of $300,000, but found that Reed was 49% at fault. Accordingly, the award was reduced by the jury to $153,000.
II.
In the instant case, the Nicholson law firm filed a Notice of Attorney's Lien, claiming, on behalf of the Widow, litigation and related expenses of $103,215.32 and its contract attorney's fee of $57,330, being approximately one-third of the amount deposited in court by the plaintiffs in this interpleader action.
The trial court held a hearing on the claim of the Nicholson law firm on January 26, 1999. On February 18, 1999, the trial court filed a memorandum opinion, which provides as follows:
The Court heard oral argumen
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