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New York Appellate Court Decides Legal Fees in Personal Injury Case

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The plaintiff in the case is Giuseppe Calabro. The defendant in the case is the Board of Education of the City of New York.

Facts of the Case

The plaintiff, Giuseppe Calabro sustained a personal injury on the 25th of October, 1995. He sustained the injury while playing on the playground that is located at the Seth Low Public School. The plaintiff obtained the Talisman law firm on or around the 4th of December for the purpose of representing Calabro in the personal injury claim as a result of the accident. The Talisman law firm then issued a notice of claim to the Board of Education of the city of New York as well as to the City of New York on the 11th and 12th of December, 1995.

Talisman law firm proceeded to engage in discovery for the complaint. The firm drafted responsive papers in regard to the demands made by the Board of Education and reviewed medical records of the case. A New York Injury Lawyer said around the first of May in 1997, the plaintiff released Talisman from the case and hired Weingrad & Weingrad on his behalf. Weingrad paid the Talisman firm the sum of $421.38 for the plaintiff’s file. Additionally, Weingrad agreed to provide Talisman with 30% of the legal fees for the services they had given if a recovery was won.

The attorney’s fees in this particular case would be calculated by the net sum that was left after all the disbursements and costs for the case were paid.

The Talisman firm issued an inquiry about the case in July of 2004. The Talisman firm received a response from the Weingrad firm that in the case the Board of Education had moved for a summary judgment to dismiss the case and the summary judgment had been granted in favor of the Board of Education. The Weingrad firm then filed an appeal notice to preserve the right for the plaintiff to appeal this decision.

After the appeal was filed by Weingrad, the plaintiff then fired the Weingrad firm and hired another firm to take over the case and prosecute the appeal. The plaintiff’s file was given to the new firm, Reitano, and agreed to only seek to be reimbursed for the disbursements in the amount of $7643.63 if there were to be a recovery granted. A Nassau County Personal Injury Lawyer said the Weingrad firm waived all of their other rights to attorney’s fees in the case.

The Talisman firm now claims that they should be paid their attorney’s fees for the personal injury action as the agreement with the Weingrad firm was still in place at the time of the transfer of the plaintiff’s case to the Reitano firm.

Case Results

The Court in this case acts in accordance with Article 22 or Judiciary Law on both the issue of whether the Talisman firm had been discharged without cause and if the firm was dismissed without charge the amount of the attorney’s fee and the share of the fee owed to the Talisman firm will be referred to a Judicial Hearing Officer. A Queens Personal Injury Lawyer said the Court will issue a date for this case to be heard and approved by the Administrative Judge.

If you have been injured as a result of negligence, a slip and fall, or while on someone else’s property, you may be able to recover the cost for your accident. At Stephen Bilkis & Associates we can look over your case and determine what actions that you may take for your particular situation. We have offices located throughout the greater metropolitan area of New York for your convenience. You may call us at any time to set up a free consultation.

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