ETHEL KURZWEIL, APPELLANT,
v.
EDWIN O. SIMON, ETC., AND HERBERT E. KAUFMAN AND LEONARD J. KALISH, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1967-11-21
No. 67-318
Before CHARLES CARROLL, C. J., and HENDRY and SWANN, JJ.
204 So. 2d 254 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1967) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

A chancellor may not award fees to withdrawing attorneys in summary equity proceedings where the amount or right to the fee is contested; however, the court may order security for the fee, such as a charging lien, to be determined in a separate action.


Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff's attorneys sought to withdraw and sought fees. The trial court granted their withdrawal, permitted plaintiff to retain new counsel, and sta…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
HENDRY, Judge.

HENDRY, Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal from an order entered in a chancery proceeding upon application by plaintiff’s attorneys for leave to withdraw from the case and for an award of fees.

The order appealed grants leave to plaintiff’s attorneys to withdraw and permits plaintiff to retain other counsel to represent her in the suit. The order further provides:

“3. The Court recognizes that there is a retainer fee due said attorneys, Herbert E. Kaufman and Leonard J. Kalish, and that they are entitled to a fair and reasonable fee for their services herein from the plaintiff, to be determined by appropriate action, and if and when any money or property is payable to the plaintiff by settlement or final determination of this action, the said attorneys are and will be entitled to a charging lien thereon for the payment of the amount due them, and the court will adjudicate their *256right to, and the amount of such charging lien.
“4. This decree is. entered without prejudice to the right to proceed by appropriate action in a separate action if petitioner is advised so to do.”

Appellant contends that paragraphs three and four of the order, above quoted, are erroneous in that they award fees to the withdrawing attorneys and impose a lien therefor without trial and before recovery of any money or property to which such lien could properly attach.

The facts and issues in the instant case are similar to those before this Court in the case of Chaachou v. Chaachou, Fla.App.1960, 122 So.2d 24, and we find the principles therein expressed to be applicable here. The Chaachou opinion states, at page 27:

“The rule pronounced in Diem v. Diem, 136 Fla. 824, 187 So. 569; Vosges Syndicate v. Everglades Club Co., 122 Fla. 267, 164 So. 881, and D’Agostino v. Peoples Water and Gas Co., supra, Fla. 1955, 78 So.2d 739, opinion on rehearing, 740-741, that on substitution of counsel the court may order payment or security for the fees of the outgoing attorney must be construed * * * to authorize an order requiring payment-of fees when the right to receive a fee is not in contest and the amount of the fee has been fixed or determined by agreement of the parties or by some prior adjudication; otherwise the alternative of requiring security for the payment of the fee as it may later be determined should be used by the court to protect the outgoing attorney.
“ * * * [A]nd while the chancellor was eminently correct in seeking to protect the outgoing attorneys, as an incident of their removal in favor of other counsel, for such additional fees as they might establish to be due them, that should have been done by an order requiring bond or other security, because the client was entitled to have the issues relating to the claim of his attorneys for additional fees tried in a separate law action, and before a jury there, if requested.” (Footnotes omitted.)

With the holding of the Chaachou case, supra, in mind, we proceed to an examination of paragraphs three and four of the order appealed.

We have seen that a chancellor may not award fees to withdrawing attorneys in summary proceedings in equity where, as here, the amount of the fee and the right to receive it are in contest. The order here before us contains no award of fees.

The chancellor recognized and stated in his order that any fee due the ap-pellees was “to be determined by appropriate action. * * * ” We construe this to mean that the appellees are relegated to their remedies at law, or in other words, that the amount of fees due, if any, must be determined in a separate action at law.

We have seen that the chancellor may, however, require security for payment of the fee as it may later be determined. The order appealed states that the attorneys “will be entitled to a charging lien. * * * ” There is no question that the creation of a lien upon the proceeds of any recovery by appellant in the equity action is an acceptable method of providing such security. Winn v. City of Cocoa, Fla. 1954, 75 So.2d 909.

Finally, the order states that the court will “adjudicate their right to, and the amount of such charging lien.” We take this to mean that the chancellor intends to determine how and to what extent the lien will be enforced, based upon the results of whatever action at law appellees may pursue. This would be a function properly assumed by the equity court, for, having created the lien, that court has the power to enforce it. See Osius v. Hastings, Fla.App. 1957, 97 So.2d 623, and Winn v. City of Cocoa, supra.

*257We conclude, then, that the order appealed, while it may be somewhat confusing in form, is proper in substance and effect. Accordingly, having found no error, we affirm.

Affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Sinclair v. Baucom, 428 So. 2d 1383 (Fla. 1983)
    …he couple’s property which led to the ongoing litigation. Finally, the remedy is available where there has been an attempt to avoid the payment of fees, Worley v. Phillips, or a dispute as to the amount involved. Renno v. Sigmon; Kurzweil v. Simon, 204 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967). Again, the record before us shows a dispute as to the amount of the attorneys’ fees. Ruby claims she is liable only for $6500 under the agreement; petitioner asserts the total bill to be $150,-000. There are no requirements for…
  • Conroy v. Conroy, 392 So. 2d 934 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980)
    …ces which suggest that there probably wasn’t any agreement. In re Barker's Estate; Winn v. City of Cocoa; Carter v. Davis; de la Cruz v. Brown, 338 So. 2d 245 (Fla.3d DCA 1976); Worley v. Phillips, 264 So. 2d 42 (Fla.2d DCA 1972); Kurzweil v. Simon, 204 So. 2d 254 (Fla.3d DCA 1967). Accord, Chancey v. Bauer. There seems to be little distinction between a judgment which recovers real estate on the one hand and a judgment for money or the recovery of personal property on the other. Therefore, it would not be i…
  • Zadock E. Worley v. Phillips, 264 So. 2d 42 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972)
    …a charging lien upon the proceeds of any recovery by the client in an equity action is an acceptable method of providing security for the payment of the attorney’s fee. Winn v. City of Cocoa, Fla.1954, 75 So. 2d 909; Kurzweil v. Simon, Fla.App.1967, 204 So. 2d 254. But where there is no charging lien involved, a lawyer’s claim for fees must be prosecuted'in a separate action at law, Chaachou v. Chaachou, Fla.App.1960, 122 So. 2d 24; Riddle Airlines, Inc. v. McGahey, Fla.App.1962, 144 So. 2d 92. See Goodkind v…

Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw