Opinion ID: 1196201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The Legal Characteristics Of A Lawyer's Ancillary Fee-Quantum Claim

Text: ¶ 12 A controversy between the claimant and his lawyer over the quantum of counsel fee to be paid out of the achieved accord is ancillary to the settlement. [29] In the absence of a claimant's on- or off-the-record waiver, [30] the trial tribunal need not treat the lawyer's fee-quantum issue as an indivisible part of the settlement proceeding but may sever it for later consideration and treatment as ancillary to the worker's claim. ¶ 13 Where, as here, the record reveals no waiver (of right to a fee-quantum decision produced by adversary process), a counsel-fee award recited in the settlement order constitutes no more than a tentative trial tribunal's allocation to the lawyer of the statutorily allowable maximum compensation. The actual fee quantum to be allowed remains a disputed issue yet to be resolved. [31]