Appellate Victory in Dispute Over Law Firm’s Right to Recover Fee and Expenses

Pretzel & Stouffer partners Brendan J. Nelligan and Matthew J. Egan secured a victory in the Illinois Appellate Court on behalf of the firm’s client, a law firm to whom the trial court had awarded fees and expenses under principles of quantum meruit from the settlement proceeds of a medical malpractice case in which the firm represented the plaintiff without entering into a written fee agreement with the client, as required by Rule 1.5(d)(2) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct.

On appeal, the plaintiff argued that the firm’s noncompliance with Rule 1.5 disqualified the firm from recovering any fee or being reimbursed for expenses the firm incurred while representing the plaintiff in the underlying medical malpractice case. The Appellate Court agreed with Brendan and Matt’s argument that the firm’s noncompliance with Rule 1.5(c) (now Rule 1.5(d)(2)) was unintentional and therefore, did not prohibit the firm from seeking and receiving compensation for its services under principles of quantum meruit. The Appellate Court also agreed with Brendan and Matt’s argument that the firm satisfied the requirements for recovery under quantum meruit by documenting the services that the firm provided for the plaintiff, which resulted in the plaintiff receiving a favorable settlement in a complex and difficult case. The Appellate Court also agreed with Brendan and Matt’s arguments that the facts of the case regarding the firm’s conduct distinguished it from several other Appellate Court cases where the court held that an attorney’s or firm’s noncompliance with Rule 1.5 barred the recovery of any compensation and affirmed the trial court’s award of fees and expenses to the law firm. See, 2024 IL App (1st) 221000-U.