Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg

  • 13
  • Oct
  • 2014

Alabama Court of Appeals Reverses Itself in Attorney Fee Case

On October 10, 2014, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals released its opinion in the case of Arthur Barney v. Elizabeth Bell, as personal representative of the estate of Maurice Bell, deceased, and William Clay Teague. This case was before the Court for a second time, because Barney filed an Application for Rehearing after the Court ruled against Barney on July 18, 2014. A summary of the facts of the case and the Court of Appeals' first opinion can be found here. On rehearing, the Court reversed itself and the trial court, holding that Barney's attorneys were not entitled to summary judgment on Barney's claim that they committed malpractice by retaining an excessive attorney's fee on the workers' compensation claim. The Court also held that Barney was entitled to partial summary judgment on that claim. The Court entered judgment in favor of Barney in the amount of $6,375.00, and remanded the case to the trial court for a determination of whether Barney is entitled to additional compensatory of punitive damages. In reaching its decision, the Court noted that the attorneys failed to present any expert testimony regarding the reasonableness of their fees, and that they were therefore not entitled to summary judgment on Barney's malpractice claim. The Court further noted that there was no factual dispute as to whether the attorneys breached the standard of care, thus committing malpractice, by keeping too much of Barney's workers' compensation settlement for their fee. -------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR This article was written by Charley M. Drummond, Esq. of Fish Nelson & Holden, LLC. Fish Nelson & Holden is a law firm located in Birmingham, Alabama dedicated to representing employers, self-insured employers, and insurance carriers in workers' compensation cases and related liability matters. Drummond and his firm are members of The National Workers' Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN). The NWCDN is a national and Canadian network of reputable law firms organized to provide employers and insurers access to the highest quality representation in workers' compensation and related employer liability fields. If you have questions about this article or Alabama workers' compensation issues in general, please feel free to contact the author at cdrummond@fishnelson.com or (205) 332-3414.

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