Procedural Posture: class action lawsuit defense

Plaintiff attorney sought review of a decision of the Superior Court of Orange County (California) that dismissed plaintiff's complaint, for failure to amend, against defendant law firm for breach of a contingency referral contract based on the referral of two cases.

Overview
Plaintiff attorney transferred two cases to defendant law firm pursuant to a contingency referral contract. Defendants were to be substituted in the place of plaintiff as attorney of record. Plaintiff filed suit against defendants, alleging that after receiving the cases, defendants failed to exercise their best efforts to either settle the cases or bring them to trial prior to the running of the applicable statute of limitations. The trial court twice sustained a demurrer of defendants, with leave to amend, and dismissed plaintiff's action when plaintiff failed to amend his complaint again. The court affirmed, holding that a contract between two attorneys could not legally impose upon the successor attorney a duty to pursue a client's case according to the former attorney's interests. An attorney's action for reasonable compensation accrued only when a stated contingency occurred.

Outcome
The court affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff attorney's complaint, holding that an attorney's action for compensation accrued only when a stated contingency occurred. A contract between two attorneys could not legally impose a duty to pursue a case according to the former attorney's interests.

This one don mad