Opinion ID: 6500338
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Text: In 2010, Dr. Charlisa Allen filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal district court in Arizona following the death of her husband. See Allen v. Am. Cap. Ltd., No. 2:16-cv-02876-JAT (D. Ariz.). Allen retained Lewis as counsel in the lawsuit. Four years later, Allen contracted with Wagstaff to actually litigate the wrongful death lawsuit. The contract limited the scope of Wagstaff’s representation to pursuing a “claim against the manufacturers of Heparin only for injuries and damages arising from the wrongful death of [Allen’s] husband.” R. Doc. 74-1, at 1. The contract did not mention Lewis; instead, it referred only to Wagstaff’s potential employment of other counsel. Wagstaff served as lead plaintiff’s counsel in the wrongful death lawsuit. In 2014, Lewis twice e-mailed Jonathan P. Kieffer of Wagstaff, proposing that he and Wagstaff enter some sort of co-counsel arrangement in which they share 1 The Honorable Gary A. Fenner, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. -2- representational responsibilities and fees. Wagstaff, however, never responded to these requests. During the litigation, Wagstaff never employed Lewis or retained him for any legal services in relation to the wrongful death lawsuit. Wagstaff and Lewis never entered into a written agreement for division of fees in the wrongful death lawsuit, nor did Lewis ever enter into a written agreement providing that he and Wagstaff would assume joint responsibility for the wrongful death lawsuit. At no time did Allen and Lewis enter into a written agreement providing for the division of fees and responsibilities between Lewis and Wagstaff. Furthermore, Lewis and Wagstaff never entered into an oral fee-splitting agreement. In fact, “there was never any meeting of the minds regarding fee-sharing between [Lewis] and Wagstaff.” R. Doc. 71-5, at 8. Lewis, however, maintains that he did consult on some discovery issues and review filings made in the wrongful death lawsuit. But he admitted that Wagstaff had done the “bulk of the heavy lifting” in the wrongful death lawsuit. Id. at 4. On January 22, 2018, Allen terminated her attorney-client relationship with Lewis. The federal district court in Arizona granted Lewis’s application to withdraw as counsel for Allen. On March 18, 2018, the parties in the wrongful death lawsuit reached a confidential settlement, and the case was dismissed with prejudice. Upon learning of the dismissal, Lewis began demanding payment of his purported attorney’s fee from Wagstaff.