 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Moffat v. Branch5/18/2005
47 (S.D.N.Y. 1997) (stating that " t is well-settled that federal court may, in its discretion, exercise ancillary jurisdiction to hear fee disputes . . . when the dispute relates to the main action" (alterations in original, internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). Such ancillary jurisdiction over attorney fee disputes includes quantum meruit claims. Universal Acupuncture Pain Servs., P.C. v. Quadrino & Schwartz, P.C., 370 F.3d 259, 261-62 (2d Cir. 2004) (remanding an attorney fee dispute for the district court to determine whether former attorney was terminated for cause and, if not, the appropriate quantum meruit relief, and stating that " henever a district court has federal jurisdiction over a case, it retains ancillary jurisdiction after dismissal to adjudicate collateral matters such as attorney's fees" (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). Therefore, when we refer to the federal action, we mean the initial malpractice action as well as the post-settlement attorney fee dispute.
Same Parties or Privies Acting in the Same Capacity
Turning to the elements of claim preclusion, Moffat contends that Branch and Branney were not parties to the federal action; therefore, the "same parties" element of claim preclusion is not met. Indeed, Moffat claims that he himself was not a party in the federal action, which he describes as an in rem proceeding, and that he was "only a person asserting a charging lien." Moffat directs us to Restatement § 34(3), which states that a person who is not a party to an action "is not bound by or entitled to the benefits of the rules of res judicata." Moffat appears to contend that effectively no one was a party in the federal action. We disagree and conclude that Moffat and Branch and Branney were all parties to the attorney fee dispute and we do not consider any of them to have been "strangers" to the action in federal court. Our conclusion is grounded upon the participation by each party and his submission to the jurisdiction of the court. We also rely on the federal court's treatment, as a practical matter, of Moffat and Branch and Branney as intervenors in the malpractice action for the purpose of resolving the attorney fee dispute. See Restatement § 34 cmt. a (stating that non-parties may become parties by commencing an action or by "making an appearance or participating in the action in a manner that has the effect of an appearance"). The essence of the Restatement view is that a party is one who has had an opportunity to litigate and has been subject to the jurisdiction of the court. Restatement § 34 cmt. a (stating that "the opportunity to litigate is accorded to persons who are parties"). Here, Moffat filed a charging lien and appeared before the federal court to pursue a portion of the fee. Branch and Branney filed a motion in opposition to Moffat's request and submitted a successful motion for summary judgment to the federal magistrate.
We conclude that each party sufficiently participated in the attorney fee dispute in federal court so as to have been a party for claim preclusion purposes. See Adams v. Morton, 581 F.2d 1314, 1317 (9th Cir. 1978) (holding that a formal motion to intervene is not required in order to treat a person as a party under the federal rules as long as he participated in an action and the court viewed such participation as formal entry into the dispute). It is irrelevant that Moffat and Branch and Branney are not named in the caption of the underlying malpractice action because they each had the opportunity to litigate the attorney fee dispute before the federal court and actually appeared before that court in order to resolve the dispute. See Clarion Corp. v. Amer. Home Prods. Corp., 464 F.2d 44
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 New Mexico Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|