Angino v. Jeffrey R. Lessin & Associates

131 A.3d 502, 2016 Pa. Super. 2, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2, 2016 WL 81848
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 5, 2016
Docket941 MDA 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 131 A.3d 502 (Angino v. Jeffrey R. Lessin & Associates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Angino v. Jeffrey R. Lessin & Associates, 131 A.3d 502, 2016 Pa. Super. 2, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2, 2016 WL 81848 (Pa. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION BY

FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.:

Appellant Angino & Rovner P.C. (“Angi-no”) appeals from the order entered on May 27, 2014,1 in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, denying Angi-no’s and granting appellee Monsour Zar-reii’s (“Zarreii”)2 motions for partial judgment on the pleadings.3 This case involves a fee dispute between Angino and Zarreii, its former client. Upon review, we affirm.

The facts and procedural history underlying this appeal are undisputed.4 In June 2007, Zarreii engaged Angino — specifically Richard C. Angino, Esq. — to represent him in litigation stemming from a motor [505]*505vehicle accident which occurred in April of 2006. In this regard, on June 21, 2007, Zarreii executed a contingency fee agreement (“Agreement”) with Angino containing a termination provision, which provided:

If for any reason I (we) take my (our) case to another attorney or law firm including a former A & R[5] attorney or handle it myself (ourselves), I (we) recognize that A & R has, in good faith, expended money and time for my (our) benefit and I(we) therefore agree to pay, or have my (our) new attorney pay, immediately upon severing the A & R attorney/client relationship, all the out-of-pocket expenses incurred on my (our) case plus interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of each expenditure. In addition, when the case is successfully concluded, I (we) agree to pay or direct my (our) new attorney to pay as a fee 20% of the gross recovery to A &R.

Contingency Fee Agreement, 5/21/07 at ¶ 5 (emphasis added). On November 21, 2007, Angino obtained an offer of the policy limits of $100,000 from the tortfeasor’s insurance carrier, Progressive Insurance, in exchange for a full release from liability relating to the motor vehicle accident. On December 20, 2007, Zarreii accepted Progressive’s offer. Because the matter was settled with Progressive prior to the commencement of a civil action, Angino received a fee of 30% — or $30,000 — under the Agreement.

Angino thereafter pursued an underin-sured motorist (“UIM”) claim under Zar-reii’s motor vehicle insurance policy. As a result, Angino engaged the services of expert witnesses, and negotiated with Zar-reii’s insurance carrier, Erie. Because Zar-reii’s insurance policy required arbitration for UIM claims before a panel of three arbitrators6 prior to filing a civil suit, Angi-no selected an arbitrator and scheduled the matter for arbitration.

Before the arbitration could be conducted, however, Zarreii, by letter dated March 30, 2010, terminated his relationship with Angino and retained Lessin to represent him in his UIM case against Erie.7 By letter dated March 2, 2012, Zar-reii’s new counsel informed Angino that arbitration in Zarreii’s UIM case was scheduled for March 27, 2012. Additionally, new counsel stated in the letter, “[s]ince you chose Mr[.] Zarreii’s arbitrator and you have a 50% stake[8] in the outcome of the ease, I would like you to attend [the] same.” (Letter to Angino from Jeffrey R. Lessin, 3/2/12.)

On August 31, 2012, the arbitrators issued an award in favor of Zarreii and against'Erie for $635,650. The arbitrators also awarded Zarreii’s wife, Marilin Zar-reii, $50,000 on her loss of consortium claim against Erie. The total award, therefore, was $685,650. Erie, however, was entitled to offset the $100,000 already received by Zarreii under the tortfeasor’s insurance policy. As a result, the total [506]*506amount at issue in this fee ■ ease was $585,650. By letter dated September 4, 2012, Zarreii’s new counsel informed Angi-no that Angino was not entitled to receive a fee of 20% under the termination provision of the Agreement, despite the fact Zarreii terminated-his representation with Angino, subsequently engaged Lessin, and settled his UIM case against Erie.

On September 11, 2012, Angino filed a complaint in the trial court, alleging that Zarreii breached the Agreement when he failed to pay Angino a contingency fee of 20% of the gross arbitration award ($585,-650) . in the UIM case. In other words, Angino alleged that Zarreii failed to pay him $117,130 under the termination provision of the Agreement. In addition, Angi-no alleged that Zarreii’s subsequent counsel — i.e., Lessin — also breached a verbal contract with Angino whereby Lessin had agreed to share with Angino 50% of its fees received from Zarreii.

Subsequently, Zarreii and Lessin filed separate yet identical answers to the complaint, generally denying Angino’s allegations and raising new. matter. The. parties thereafter each filed motions for partial judgment on the pleadings9 under Pa. R.C.P. 1034 with respect to Zarreii’s breach .of the Agreement. On May 27, 2014, -the trial court issued an order and memorandum opinion, granting Zarreii’s and denying Angino’s motion for-partial judgment on the pleadings. The, trial court agreed with Zarreii’s argument that under Pennsylvania law, an attorney, or in this case Angino, may recover only on a theory of quantum meruit, regardless of a termination provision in a contingency fee agreement, .when a. client terminates an attorney, engages the services of other counsel, and subsequently settles the case. (,See trial court opinion, 5/27/14 at 4.) In so doing, the trial court principally relied upon three Pennsylvania Superior Court decisions: Hiscott & Robinson v. King, 426 Pa.Super, 338, 626 A.2d 1235 (1993), appeal denied, 537 Pa. 641, 644 A.2d 163 (1994); Fowkes v. Shoemaker, 443 Pa.Super. 343, 661 A.2d 877 (1995), appeal denied, 544 Pa. 609, 674 A.2d 1072 (1996); and Mager v. Bultena, 797 A.2d 948 (Pa.Super.2002), appeal denied, 572 Pa. 725, 814 A.2d 678 (2002). The trial court observed Angino failed to assert a quantum meruit claim against Zarreii in this case. (See trial court opinion, 5/27/14 at 4.) The trial court, therefore, denied relief to Angino.

On May 30, 2014, Angino filed a praecipe dismissing its breach of contract claim against Lessin,10 thereby rendering final the trial court’s May 28, 2014 order disposing of the parties’ motions for partial judgment on the pleadings. Angino timely filed a notice of appeal. Although the trial court did not direct Angino to file a Pa. R.A.P.1925(b) statement of errors complained of on appeal, the trial court filed a Rule 1925(a) opinión, by which it merely adopted its memorandum opinion in support of its May 27, 2014 order.

On appeal, Angino raises a single issue for our review:

Did the trial court err in granting Summary Judgment in favor of Mr. Zarreii and denying Summary Judgment to [Angino] where the facts are undisputed that Mr. Zarreii, an adult, knowingly and voluntarily entered into a contingent fee agreement with [Angino] that re[507]*507quired the payment of a 20% fee if Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 A.3d 502, 2016 Pa. Super. 2, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2, 2016 WL 81848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/angino-v-jeffrey-r-lessin-associates-pasuperct-2016.