Murphy v. Davis

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 11, 2018
DocketA-1-CA-35379
StatusUnpublished

This text of Murphy v. Davis (Murphy v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murphy v. Davis, (N.M. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Please see Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished memorandum opinions. Please also note that this electronic memorandum opinion may contain computer-generated errors or other deviations from the official paper version filed by the Court of Appeals and does not include the filing date.

1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

2 DENNIS MURPHY, as Personal Representative 3 of the Estate of ANDRAE DAVIS, deceased, 4 LORRAINE CALKIN, Individually and as parent 5 and next friend of CASEY DAVIS, a minor, and 6 KOBE DAVIS, a minor,

7 Plaintiffs-Appellees,

8 and NO. A-1-CA-35379

9 JENNIFER L. DAVIS, as Parent and 10 Next Friend of Andrae Davis II, a minor,

11 Plaintiff in Intervention/Appellant,

12 v.

13 THE EAGLE’S NEST CONDOMINIUMS 14 ASSOCIATION, a New Mexico Nonprofit 15 Corporation, and ROGER COX AND 16 ASSOCIATES PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 17 COMPANY, LLC, a New Mexico Limited 18 Liability Company,

19 Defendants/Defendants in Intervention.

20 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF SANTA FE COUNTY 21 Francis J. Mathew, District Judge 1 Kerry Kiernan, P.C. 2 Kerry Kiernan 3 Albuquerque, NM

4 for Appellees 5 Warner & Finley 6 Charles R. Finley 7 Albuquerque, NM

8 Alex Chisholm 9 Albuquerque, NM

10 for Appellants

11 MEMORANDUM OPINION

12 VARGAS, Judge.

13 {1} This appeal asks us to resolve a dispute over attorney fees between the attorneys

14 for a wrongful death estate and the attorney for one of the estate’s statutory

15 beneficiaries. Attorney Charles Finley (Finley), retained by the mother of one of

16 Decedent’s minor sons, appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to supervise

17 the contingency fee agreements associated with Plaintiffs’ wrongful death action and

18 the accompanying derivative claims of the statutory beneficiaries. On appeal, Finley

19 argues that he is entitled to collect fees from his client’s share of the Estate’s wrongful

20 death recovery. Alternatively, Finley contends that the Wrongful Death Act requires

21 that the personal representative of the Estate distribute the proceeds of the recovery

22 to the statutory beneficiaries without any deductions for costs or attorney fees incurred

2 1 by the Estate. Because Finley failed to show that he had been retained by the personal

2 representative to represent the Estate in the wrongful death action, because the

3 personal representative is entitled to choose his counsel and enter into an agreement

4 to pay that counsel, and because the record supports the district court’s finding that

5 there was no evidence that the personal representative distributed the judgment

6 proceeds contrary to his statutory mandate, we affirm.

7 BACKGROUND

8 {2} Andrae Davis (Decedent) was shot and killed while inside his residence. Dennis

9 Murphy, acting as personal representative of Decedent’s Estate (the Estate), retained

10 two law firms (Plaintiffs’ attorneys) to bring a wrongful death action against the

11 Eagle’s Nest Condominiums Association and Roger Cox and Associates Property

12 Management, LLC, the owner and the manager of the condominium complex where

13 Decedent was killed. Plaintiffs’ attorneys also brought separate individual claims for

14 negligence, negligent hiring, and negligent infliction of emotional distress on behalf

15 of Decedent’s fiancé, Lorraine Calkin, and their two sons, Casey and Kobe

16 (collectively, Plaintiffs).

17 {3} A little over a year after the complaint was filed, Decedent’s ex-wife, Jennifer

18 Davis (Jennifer), through her lawyer, Finley, filed a motion to intervene in the

3 1 wrongful death action to bring claims for loss of consortium on behalf of Jennifer, as

2 next friend for her son with Decedent, Andrae Davis II (Little Andrae).

3 {4} Following a trial on the merits, the jury awarded compensatory damages of

4 $2,835,000 to the Estate and $455,0001 to each of Decedent’s children. The jury also

5 awarded $6 million in punitive damages.

6 {5} After entry of the judgment on the jury’s award, Finley filed a motion asking

7 the court to supervise the contingency fee agreements between Plaintiffs and

8 Plaintiffs’ attorneys as well as the contingency fee agreement between Finley and

9 Jennifer. In his motion, Finley argued that as counsel for one of the three statutory

10 beneficiaries, he was entitled to collect attorney fees on his client’s one-third share of

11 the Estate’s total damages award and that the Estate should distribute its proceeds to

12 the statutory beneficiaries without deducting any costs or attorney fees.

13 {6} Following a hearing, the district court denied the motion, finding Finley’s

14 representation of Jennifer, on behalf of Little Andrae, was limited to the loss of

15 consortium claim alone, and did not include representation of Little Andrae as a

16 statutory beneficiary of the Estate’s wrongful death action. The district court also

17 found that the term “proceeds,” as defined in the Wrongful Death Act and applied to

1 18 These amounts reflect the court’s calculations of comparative fault attributed 19 to each of the defendants.

4 1 the Estate’s judgment, referred to net proceeds, rather than gross proceeds. Finley

2 appealed.

3 DISCUSSION

4 {7} Finley raises two issues on appeal. First, he claims he is entitled to collect fees

5 from Little Andrae’s share of the Estate’s wrongful death recovery because Little

6 Andrae is a statutory beneficiary of the Estate and Jennifer retained him to represent

7 Little Andrae’s interests. Second, Finley argues that the Wrongful Death Act requires

8 that Little Andrae receive his gross share of the Estate’s recovery distributed to him

9 without any deductions for attorney fees and costs. We are not persuaded by either

10 argument.

11 Finley’s Right to Collect Fees From Estate Proceeds

12 {8} We first address Finley’s claim that, as the attorney for one of the Estate’s

13 statutory beneficiaries, he is entitled to collect attorney fees on Little Andrae’s share

14 of the proceeds of the judgment entered in favor of the Estate. In support of his claim,

15 Finley relies on his contingency fee agreement with Jennifer. We have previously held

16 that “[w]here one employs an attorney and makes an express valid contract, stipulating

17 for the compensation which the attorney is to receive for his services, such contract

18 is generally speaking, conclusive as to an amount of such compensation[,]” and, “[i]t

19 is the function of the court to enforce the contract as made.” Citizens Bank v. C & H

5 1 Constr. & Paving Co., 1979-NMCA-106, ¶ 39, 93 N.M. 422, 600 P.2d 1212 (internal

2 quotation marks and citation omitted). Further, the party seeking enforcement of a

3 contract, in this case, Finley, carries the burden of persuasion. See Farmington Police

4 Officers Ass’n v. City of Farmington, 2006-NMCA-077, ¶ 16, 139 N.M. 750, 137 P.3d

5 1204.

6 {9} Before addressing the parties’ arguments on appeal, we note that Finley, as the

7 appellant, has the responsibility to provide a proper record for appellate review. See

8 Brown v. Trujillo, 2004-NMCA-040, ¶ 34, 135 N.M. 365, 88 P.3d 881 (stating the rule

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Murphy v. Davis, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murphy-v-davis-nmctapp-2018.