Opinion ID: 2274583
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prior Litigation Between Steamship and the Bank

Text: [¶ 3] In April 2001, Steamship filed a complaint, which included tort and contract claims, against the Bank. Three weeks later, the Bank brought a foreclosure action against Steamship. At that time, a law firm other than Lilley represented Steamship. [¶ 4] Steamship's motion to dismiss the foreclosure action was denied. The court ( Perkins, J. ) agreed with the Bank that its claims in the foreclosure action were not compulsory counterclaims to Steamship's lawsuit pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 13(a). However, the two cases were consolidated pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 42(a) for the purposes of discovery due to the overlap in parties and issues. Steamship then attempted to incorporate its tort and contract claims into the foreclosure action as counterclaims, but the court ( Delahanty, J. ) dismissed them with prejudice. [¶ 5] Lilley joined the other law firm in its representation of Steamship in January 2002 and signed a contingent fee agreement (2002 Agreement) with them. In December 2002, a summary judgment was entered against Steamship in the foreclosure action. On one of the Bank's foreclosure claims, the court specified that the amount of attorney fees and costs would not be determined until Steamship's tort and contract action was resolved. For the Bank's other claims, the court allowed the Bank to wait for the resolution of Steamship's action before filing a claim for attorney fees and costs. The Bank subsequently obtained a deficiency judgment against Steamship. [¶ 6] In the fall of 2004, it was agreed that the other law firm would be released from its representation, and Lilley executed a new contingent fee agreement (2004 Agreement) with Steamship. Pursuant to the 2004 Agreement, Lilley would be paid 35% ... for settlement or trial (not to include appeal) of gross recovery. (Emphasis omitted.) It also stated that the contingent fee would be based upon actual collection of judgment or settlement and paid via direct deduction from funds received in trust. [1] [¶ 7] In September 2004, a jury awarded Steamship $1,500,000 in its action against the Bank. We affirmed the judgment on appeal. S.S. Navigation Co. v. Camden Nat'l Bank, 2006 ME 11, ¶¶ 7-10, 889 A.2d 1014, 1017-18. [¶ 8] In September 2006, the court (1) denied Steamship's motion to set aside the foreclosure judgment; (2) set off the Bank's deficiency judgment resulting from the foreclosure action against Steamship's jury award, leaving a balance of $638,290.66 owing to Steamship; and (3) calculated the costs, expenses, and accrued interest on both parties' judgments. On appeal, we affirmed each aspect of the court's judgment. Camden Nat'l Bank v. Dunican, Mem-07-84 (May 8, 2007).