Canadian Lawyer

12 M A R C H 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A British Columbia Supreme Court review of a lawyer's con- tingency fee has underscored the importance of ensuring clients understand what is covered by the con- tingency fee agreement when under- taking a case, but it also points towards the risks lawyers can become mired in when accepting such clients. "This case is a classic example of the adage that contingency fee agreements provide a key to the courthouse for impecunious plaintiffs," said District Registrar Scott Nielsen, who reviewed Daniel J. Barker and Daniel J. Barker Law Corp.'s action against client Christian Brule to obtain a certificate of fees for the $30,073.85 in fees and disbursements incurred when handling an appeal for Brule following the dismissal of a civil trial. Brule's argument that he was not lia- ble for the fees for the appeal — which was successful and led to the order of a new trial — was based on a revised con- tingency agreement and his belief that he would be only liable for filing and transcript costs of the appeal. The first contingency agreement had Barker entitled to a sliding scale of 20 per cent to 33-1/3 per cent of net recovery depending on the amount of time in the process leading to trial and in trial that the lawyer put in for the client. The first agreement set out the provision that "any legal services as to an appeal of the trial court's decision" was not included in the contingency agreement. Barker was responsible for disbursements 15 days prior to trial and Brule 14 days prior to trial, plus Brule was also responsible for paying expert witnesses. It became apparent as the case pro- gressed towards trial that Brule could not pay the estimated $6,000 to $9,000 for an expert's report as he could only raise $2,000. Barker provided the option of a second contingency agree- ment, which gave him 40 per cent of anything recovered plus out-of-pocket expenses since November 2011 and taxes and his law firm would pay the difference for the report. On Nov. 6, 2013, Brule signed the new agreement replacing one from 2011. Again, it specified an appeal was excluded from the contingency agreement. If no recovery was made by Barker then no fees would be paid; however, according to the new agreement, Brule \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP The fi ne line on contingencies Because business issues are legal issues. So if you want to get ahead in business, get the degree that gets you there faster. ONE YEAR – PART - TIME – NO THESIS FOR L AWYERS AND NON - LAWYERS law.utoronto.ca/ExecutiveLLM GPLLM Global Professional Master of Laws [Get a Master of Laws] Untitled-1 1 2015-02-25 8:38 AM

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