Woods v. Amazon.com LLC

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 1, 2020
Docket1:17-cv-04339
StatusUnknown

This text of Woods v. Amazon.com LLC (Woods v. Amazon.com LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woods v. Amazon.com LLC, (N.D. Ill. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION ANDREW WOODS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) Case No. 17-cv-4339 ) v. ) ) Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. AMAZON.COM, LLC, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ) ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER For the reasons set forth below, Claimant Taxman, Pollock, Murray, Bekkerman, LLC’s (“Claimant” or “TPMB”) motion to strike [456] is denied, and Plaintiff’s motion to adjudicate the Claimant’s quantum meruit attorneys’ lien [434] is granted. The Court finds that TPMB is entitled to $69,825 in attorneys’ fees. I. Background This attorneys’ fees dispute arises from a plaintiff’s change of counsel partway through a personal injury suit. Plaintiff Andrew Woods, an ironworker participating in construction of a warehouse for Amazon, was injured when an industrial rack collapsed. See [28, at 3, 5]. Plaintiff retained the law firm Taxman, Pollock, Murray, Bekkerman, LLC on May 16, 2017, to represent him in matters related to his injuries under a contingency fee arrangement. TPMB filed a personal injury suit on Plaintiff’s behalf on June 8, 2017. The case was originally assigned to the Judge St. Eve, who recused herself, and the case was reassigned to the Chief Judge Castillo. See [30]. TPMB represented Plaintiff in the matter for the following five or six months. Between June and November 16, 2017, TPMB filed two amended complaints (see [6] and [28]), submitted status reports, attended status hearings, and replied to affirmative defenses (see [39-41]). TPMB also sent attorneys’ liens to defendants. See [434-1, at 2-7]. The parties did not engage in discovery during that time. On November 16, 2017, TPMB received a letter from Plaintiff terminating the representation and directing TPMB to cooperate with his new attorneys, the firm of Anesi, Ozmon,

Rodin, Novak, & Kohn, Ltd (“Anesi”). [450-1, at 34-35.] Marc Taxman, a partner at TPMB, acknowledged receipt of Plaintiff’s letter that same day. [453-1, at 7-8.] TPMB turned over Plaintiff’s client file to Anesi on November 17, 2017, though the parties disagree on what the file contained. See [453-1, at 1-3; 455-1, at 2-3]. On November 28, 2017, Chief Judge Castillo held a status hearing, at which TPMB sought to have the judge “vet the facts regarding TPMB, LLC’s discharge.” [458-3, at 12.] The Court declined. TPMB filed a motion to withdraw [72] on December 4, 2017, which the Court granted on December 11, 2018 [78]. The case proceeded through discovery and dispositive motions practice to trial, with Anesi representing Plaintiff. The case settled on the fifth day of trial, August

23, 2019. On September 9, 2019, Plaintiff, through Anesi, filed a motion to adjudicate TPMB’s quantum meruit attorneys’ liens [434]. Partway through the briefing, the case was transferred to the undersigned, following Chief Judge Castillo’s retirement. [447.] Lacking contemporaneous billing records, TPMB submitted a reconstructed chronology of its work on the case. See [458-3, at 2-13]. TPMB also filed a motion to strike [456] several paragraphs from an affidavit [453-1] in support of Anesi’s reply brief, submitted by Mark Novak, a partner at Anesi. Neither party’s briefs requested an evidentiary hearing, and Plaintiff’s reply brief in support of his motion contained objections to much of the work for which TPMB seeks compensation. Royce v. Michael R. Needle P.C., 950 F.3d 481, 488 (7th Cir. 2020) (“A district court is not required to hold an evidentiary hearing on attorney’s fees where a party has an opportunity to respond and make specific objections to the fee petition.”) (citing Small v. Richard Wolf Med. Instruments Corp., 264 F.3d 702, 709 (7th Cir. 2001)). Thus, the issues presented in the motion to adjudicate quantum meruit attorneys’ liens [434] and the motion to strike [456] are ripe for decision.

II. Legal Standard Motions to strike are “disfavored,” because they “potentially serve only to delay,” except where they “remove unnecessary clutter from the case”). Heller Fin., Inc. v. Midwhey Powder Co., Inc., 883 F.2d 1286, 1294 (7th Cir. 1989); Redwood v. Dobson, 476 F.3d 462, 471 (7th Cir. 2007) (“Motions to strike disserve the interest of judicial economy. The aggravation [they cause one’s opponent] comes at an unacceptable cost in judicial time.”). A district court’s ruling on a motion to strike an affidavit or statement of facts is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Marshall v. Local 701 Int’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 387 F. App’x 623, 626 (7th Cir. 2010). “Quantum meruit is a quasi-contract doctrine that allows the Court to imply the existence

of a contract in order to prevent injustice.” Langone v. Miller, 631 F. Supp. 2d 1067, 1071 (N.D. Ill. 2009) (citing Hayes Mech., Inc. v. First Indus., 812 N.E.2d 419, 426 (Ill. App. Ct. 2004)).1 To state a claim for quantum meruit, the plaintiff must plead that (1) he performed a service to the benefit of the defendant; (2) he did not perform this service gratuitously; (3) the defendant accepted this service; and (4) no contract existed to prescribe the payment for this service. Langone, 631 F. Supp. 2d at 1071 (citing Installco, Inc. v. Whiting Corp., 784 N.E.2d 312, 318 (2002); Owen Wagener & Co. v. U.S. Bank, 697 N.E.2d 902, 908 (1998)). The burden of proof is on the attorney

1 In contractual/quasi-contractual matters such as this, state law is to be applied to the dispute. Dobbs v. Depuy Orthopaedics, Inc., 885 F.3d 455, 457 (7th Cir. 2018); Production Process Consultants, Inc. v. Wm. R. Hubbell Street, Corp., 988 F.2d 794, 795-796 (7th Cir. 1993). to establish the value of his services. Thompson v. Buncik, 961 N.E.2d 280, 283, as modified on denial of reh’g (Dec. 29, 2011)(citing McHugh v. Olsen, 545 N.E.2d 379, 382 (1989)). Under Illinois law, the trial court has broad discretion in matters of attorneys’ fees due to the advantage of close observation of the attorney’s work and the trial judge’s deeper understanding of the skill and time required in the case. Royce, 950 F.3d at 487 (citing Kannewurf

v. Johns, 632 N.E.2d 711, 716 (1994)); see also Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit, P.C. v. Rossiello, 911 N.E.2d 1180, 1187 (2009) (“The trial court has broad discretionary powers in awarding reasonable attorneys’ fees and its determination is based on the evidence presented by the parties.”). The relevant factors in assessing a fee award include “the time and labor required, the attorney’s skill and standing, the nature of the cause, the novelty and difficulty of the subject matter, the attorney’s degree of responsibility in managing the case, the usual and customary charge for that type of work in the community, and the benefits resulting to the clients.” Kannewurf, 632 N.E.2d at 717 (emphasis omitted). Review of a district court’s award of attorneys’ fees is deferential, for a number of reasons: “the district court has a more complete picture of the case as a whole; the issues

tend to be factual matters for which appellate review is limited; the accuracy of the ultimate decision is not likely to be enhanced by frequent and detailed appellate review; and it would be wasteful to engage in a second major litigation over attorneys’ fees.” Lock Realty Corp. IX v. U.S.

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Woods v. Amazon.com LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woods-v-amazoncom-llc-ilnd-2020.