Case Name: Richon S. Lawrence, Plaintiff, v. Hector Santos et al., Defendants; Harold Chetrick, Esq., Nonparty Appellant, v. The Greenberg Law Firm, LLP, Nonparty Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2015-01-13
Citations: 124 A.D.3d 453
Docket Number: 
Parties: Richon S. Lawrence, Plaintiff, v Hector Santos et al., Defendants. Harold Chetrick, Esq., Nonparty Appellant, v The Greenberg Law Firm, LLP, Nonparty Respondent.
Judges: Concur — Tom, J.E, Friedman, Acosta, Saxe and Kapnick, JJ.
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 124
Pages: 453–454

Head Matter:
Richon S. Lawrence, Plaintiff, v Hector Santos et al., Defendants. Harold Chetrick, Esq., Nonparty Appellant, v The Greenberg Law Firm, LLP, Nonparty Respondent.
[1 NYS3d 78]-

Opinion:
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered September 12, 2013, which, to the extent appealed from, awarded outgoing counsel Harold Chetrick $2,000 in fees, unanimously modified, on the law, to increase Chetrick's award to $5,000, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
It is uncontroverted that, when Greenberg took over plaintiffs representation from Chetrick (who had received a $15,000 offer on the case after working on the matter for almost a year), outgoing and incoming counsel agreed that Greenberg would pay Chetrick $5,000 of the contingency fee in the event defendant's carrier agreed to pay plaintiff the full policy amount of $25,000. The case has settled for that amount, and we see no justification for relieving Greenberg from the agreement (see Oberman v Reilly, 66 AD2d 686, 687 [1st Dept 1978], lv dismissed 48 NY2d 602 [1979]). Greenberg argues that Chetrick should not be allowed to enforce the agreement because the cli ent discharged him for cause. This argument is untenable, since Supreme Court, after a hearing, determined that Chetrick had not been terminated for cause, and Greenberg has not appealed from that determination.
Concur — Tom, J.E, Friedman, Acosta, Saxe and Kapnick, JJ.