 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Grubbs v. Knoll4/15/2005
atutory basis to award such fees against the Grubbs. However, the judgment specified that the Stevens defendants were entitled to a reduction in their obligation in the event of any payment by the Chapman defendants or the Grubbs.
The Knolls subsequently settled with the Grubbs for $20,000, and with the Stevens defendants for $500,000. On December 26, 2001, the Knolls filed an application for an award of attorneys fees solely against the Chapman defendants who did not settle. On January 14, 2002, the Chapman defendants cross-moved for monetary sanctions against the Stevens defendants in lieu of any fee award, in light of Stevens' failure to produce a key document prior to trial.
On August 1, 2002, the trial court awarded the Knolls $523,179 in attorney's fees and costs comprised of the following four items:
(A) $385,344.37 of fees awarded for the underlying lawsuit; plus (B) $57,591.05 of costs/expenses awarded for the underlying lawsuit; plus (C) $68,696.42 of fees awarded for the fee application; plus (D) $11,547.72 of costs/expenses awarded for the fee application.
The judge directed that the Chapman defendants were responsible for one-third of this award, or $174,393. In concluding that the fee should be split in thirds, the trial judge commented that the facts were intertwined. The judge made no mention of apportioning the award consistent with the jury's determination of respective liability even though this was charged to the jury.
II.
Chapman contends that the trial judge erred in apportioning the attorney's fees contrary to the jury's apportionment of liability, in ordering him to pay attorney's fees in an amount that was unreasonably disproportionate to the underlying jury award against him, and in apportioning settlement credit to compensate the Knolls for the attorney's fees they incurred in pursuing their claims against the Grubbs.
In reviewing a trial court's counsel fee determination, appellate courts apply a deferential standard; those determinations "'will be disturbed only on the rarest of occasions, and then only because of a clear abuse of discretion.'" Packard-Bamberger & Co., Inc. v. Collier, 167 N.J. 427, 444 (2001) (quoting Rendine v. Pantzer, 141 N.J. 292, 317 (1995)).
In fixing Chapman's counsel fee obligation, the trial judge initially observed that, while he recognized his obligation to separate out the fee-eligible claims, it could not be ignored that the claims against the Grubbs, Stevens, and Chapman had rested upon intertwined facts. Nonetheless, the judge was satisfied that the wrongdoing of each party was equally difficult for the Knolls to prove. The judge was satisfied that the Knolls had prevailed on all of their major claims and viewed his primary task as one of making the Knolls whole. Thereafter, the judge ruled as follows:
I therefore find that the fair and reasonable way to award legal fees in this case is to allocate the fees on a one-third/one-third/one-third basis. And the amount to be paid by defendant Chapman will therefore depend on the ... total allowable fee and costs that I will fix and may be modified by the amount received by the plaintiffs for legal fees pursuant to the settlement.... Plaintiff received $500,000 in settlement from the Stevens' defendants. Three times the jury verdict is $226,950.
Of that $7,565 recoverable from the Chapman defendants, $22,695 is recoverable from the Grubbs' defendants. That leaves $196,690 from the Stevens' settlement as Stevens' share of the jury verdict. Subtracting that from the $500,000 leaves $303,310 to apply to the legal fees of the plaintiffs.
It's noted also that plai
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 New Jersey Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|