A recent article, “Judge Reverses Course, Approves Contingency Fee in Staten Island Ferry Disaster Case” reports that a federal judge ruled that a Manhattan attorney is entitled to the full one-third fees for his work in securing a $18.3 million verdict in a case stemming from the 2003 Staten Island Ferry disaster.  The attorney, Evan Togan, has been fighting for nearly two years to have his one-third retainer fee agreement upheld.  “The fee in the retainer agreement is confirmed and supported by the client as one he freely agreed to and now wishes to pay in full,” the judge wrote in McMillian v. City of New York. 

But the judge also ordered the difference between the reinstated fee and the reduced fee – i.e., 13 percent of the net award, or approximately $2.7 million – to be placed in escrow for possible payment to the attorneys who oversaw the liability phase of the ferry litigation.  There is pending litigation over claims for a portion of the fee by those attorneys, the judge said.  “Their work allegedly resulted in rejection of New York City’s claim of limited liability under maritime law,” Judge Jack B. Weinstein wrote.  “The benefits of that aspect of this quasi-class action litigation allegedly accrued to hundreds of injured claimants, including the client.”