Facts

Plaintiff Bernardino was an attorney with the firm Hornblower, Manning, Ward & Bernardino, which represented defendants Granatelli Motor Sports Inc. and its principal Joseph R. Granatelli in defense of a lawsuit. The plaintiff filed this action to recover legal fees he claimed were owed.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiff attorney claimed the defendants agreed to pay the difference between amounts paid by insurers and his purported normal hourly rate, and that such difference was owing. The plaintiff also claimed that the defendants agreed to give him a Mercedes as part of the fee and that after providing the Mercedes, the defendants wrongfully repossessed it after the case was over and the relationship ended.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendants contended that the plaintiff promised on behalf of his firm to accept the amounts paid by insurers as payment in full. The attorney never sent any notice to the client requesting payment of fees purportedly owed because no fees were owed. The plaintiff filed the action as a defensive tactic responding to a separate legal malpractice action filed against him weeks earlier. The amounts actually paid exceeded the reasonable value of the services rendered.

The defendants also contended that the plaintiff committed ethical violations, including barter for legal services without compliance with C.R.P.C., which barred the claims. The defendants provided the Mercedes to plaintiff for his use while the lawsuit was pending and lawfully recovered it when the case was over. The defendants further contended that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue because the attorney-client relationship was with the firm and not the individual attorney who worked on the matter.

Settlement Discussions

The defendants served a C.C.P. 998 offer for $10,000.

Result

After a four-day court trial, with testimony from 11 witnesses, the court awarded judgment for defendants Granatelli Motor Sports Inc. and Joseph R. Granatelli and against plaintiff Rafael Bernardino. The defendants were awarded costs in the amount of $15,132.