Attorney Charged Discounted Rate, Delayed Collection, And Accepted Hybrid Free Structure Due To Client's Limited Cash.
Attorney James D. Daily helped the Stueve Brothers Farms, LLC (Stueve) recover some $20M in property. Stueve and others (Claimants) then sought to arbitrate their fee dispute with Daily. After the arbitrator awarded Daily $1.35 in hourly fees, and approximately $3.42M in contingency fees, which award was confirmed as a judgment, Stueve, Claimants, and nonclaimant entities appealed. Stueve Brothers Farms, LLC, et al. v. James D. Daily, G053220 (4/3 9/18/17) (Ikola, Moore, Aronson) ((unpublished).
The appeal was unsuccessful, with the Court rejecting all appellants' arguments:
(1) An argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to confirm because arbitration took place in Los Angeles County, rather than Orange County, failed, because CCP section 1292.2 relates to venue, not to jurisdiction, and the parties were not prejudiced by confirmation of the award in LA;
(2) An argument that the award was not final failed because the arbitrator's retention of jurisdiction was solely to resolve future disputes;
(3) An argument that the petition to confirm arbitration improperly contained attorney-client privileged information did not explain how the court was empowered to vacate the arbitration award;
(4) An argument by appellants that nonclaimant entities were not parties to the arbitration and thus could not be bound by the arbitrator's ruling was untimely.
COMMENT: Ordinarily objections to jurisdiction can be asserted at any time. The conclusion that appellants forfeited any basis for vacating or correcting the award by objecting in an untimely fashion makes sense as to appellants, but what the opinion does not clearly explain is when and how did the arbitrator or the court obtain jurisdiction over the "nonclaimants" in the first place.
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