Opinion ID: 4529385
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Joint Responsibility

Text: As noted above, the Padden Firm also argues on appeal that the “joint responsibility” portion of Rule 1.5(e)(1) should govern to justify its receipt of 30% of the fee. The Padden Firm’s primary evidence of joint responsibility is that its name was on the pleadings, and counsel for the Padden Firm also asserted at oral argument -10- that it would be financially responsible to pay any fee that the Napoli Firm might be awarded in its quantum meruit case, or might be joined in any malpractice case brought against the Napoli Firm. As noted, the district court held that the Padden Firm did not take either financial or ethical responsibility for the case. The Padden Firm admits that Minnesota cases have not clearly established what constitutes “joint responsibility.” However, comments to the Minnesota rules and cases from other jurisdictions follow the district court’s formulation that joint responsibility generally means taking joint financial and ethical responsibility for the case with the other firms who are parties to the fee-split agreement. See Minn. Rule Prof’l Conduct 1.5(e)(1) cmt. n.7 (“Joint responsibility for the representation entails financial and ethical responsibility for the representation as if the lawyers were associated in a partnership.”). The Padden Firm cites cases from Georgia and New York wherein the concept was likened to joint and several liability, and assert that these courts found that as long as the attorneys participated in the case, the agreement for fees should stand as written. See Nickerson v. Holloway, 469 S.E.2d 209, 210 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996) (holding that it “agree[d] with those courts which have held that as long as both attorneys have done some work on the case beyond signing and referring the client, the courts will not engage in the cumbersome task of evaluating after the fact the relative contributions made by the bickering attorneys”); Aiello v. Adar, 750 N.Y.S.2d 457, 464-66 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2002) (holding that a 50-50 feesharing agreement which explicitly stated that division of fees would not be in proportion to the work performed, would still be enforced because both attorneys assumed joint financial and ethical responsibility for the case). We are not persuaded by these arguments. First, in the New York case, the agreement spelled out that proportionality would not be considered. No such clause was included in the April 2014 agreement at issue here. And while the Georgia court referred to bickering attorneys, it is the clients in this matter that instigated the current motion before the district court. Thus, we agree with the district court that the test -11- for joint responsibility is taking financial and ethical responsibility for the case. Although the Padden Firm participated with regard to publicity and by initially securing the clients, the district court correctly found that it “assumed no financial responsibility for litigation expenses, which exceeded $100,000 in these cases.” The Napoli case has been resolved with no fee award for which the Padden Firm alleges it would have been responsible. Napoli, 2020 WL 1814269, at .6 Although the Padden Firm asserts that it took ethical responsibility for the case with regard to the Napoli Firm problems, the record indicates that all attorneys, including the White and MSD firms, worked diligently to get information from the Napoli Firm during the time Napoli was lead counsel and after the Napoli Firm was discharged as lead counsel. Further, joint responsibility seems to require both the financial and ethical components, and the financial element is clearly lacking. Thus, the district court did not err in finding that the Padden Firm did not take financial and ethical responsibility for the case within the meaning of Rule 1.5(e).