Attorney's claim for $.6m in fees struck out by Appeal Court

AN attorney with law offices in San Juan is expected to file a new application for a bill of costs to be taxed by a registrar or master of the High Court for payment from a former client in a lawsuit between two sisters over their late father’s property.

On Monday, Justices of Appeal Peter Rajkumar and Ronnie Boodoosingh struck out the application filed in October 2019 by attorney Linda Greene for payment of $670,000 from her former client, Sandra Marcano.

In treating with Greene’s application, Justice Kevin Ramcharan sent the matter to the registrar for taxation.

However, Marcano appealed on the basis that the attorney had failed to comply with section 51 of the Legal Profession Act (LPA) and Ramcharan should have struck out her claim.

Section 51 of the LPA stipulates that no attorney can commence any lawsuit for the recovery of fees unless a bill of costs is taxed and served on the client with a demand for payment in 15 days, before any lawsuit can be filed.

In agreeing with Marcano’s attorneys, Rajkumar and Boodoosingh held that Ramcharan was “plainly wrong” by not striking out Greene’s claim since it was not a matter of discretion but law.

Rajkumar said the filing of the claim was premature and should have been struck out.

In upholding the appeal, they ordered that the attorney’s claim be struck out on the basis that no cause of action had arisen because of non-compliance with section 51 of the LPA.

However, Rajkumar said there was nothing now preventing Greene from complying with the legal requirements under section 51. This position was supported by both her attorney Christlyn Moore and Marcano’s attorney Richard Thomas.

They also ordered Green to pay Marcano’s costs in the matter before Ramcharan quantified at $7,500 and two-thirds of that figure, or $5,000, for the appeal.