Opinion ID: 1196201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: an assigned trial judge will on remand have jurisdiction to examine into the fee-quantum controversy in a hearing in which claimant's lawyer will act as his client's adversary

Text: ¶ 7 The trial judge found that she could not modify the fee's quantum because more than twenty days had passed since the March 12 order's entry. She doubtless overlooked the fact that the mechanism which triggers the onset of the twenty-day period was never set in motion. That bar, which is raised by sending a copy of the approval order to the affected parties, automatically drops twenty days later. [20] As no copy had been sent to the claimant when his March 6 letter-request came for hearing, the twenty-day jurisdictional bar had neither been raised nor allowed to drop. ¶ 8 An assigned judge will hence be free on remand to examine into the fee-quantum controversy in a hearing in which the claimant's lawyer will act as his client's legal adversary.