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Zuckerman Wants Fee Dispute Case in Federal Court

November 29, 2010 | Posted in : Fee Dispute, Fee Dispute Litigation / ADR, Fee Issues on Appeal, Unpaid Fees

A recent BLT Blog story, “Zuckerman: Keep Fee Dispute in Federal Court” reports that Zuckerman Spaeder, LLP argues in a brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that its fee dispute with a former client should not be moved into arbitration because the client has been an active participant in litigation stemming from the dispute.  Zuckerman alleges that James Auffenberg, Jr. has failed to pay for work the law firm performed for him after he was indicted in 2007 for allegedly dodging millions in federal taxes.  Zuckerman filed suit against Auffenberg in 2009 for more than $834,000 in unpaid legal fees.

Auffenberg argues that Zuckerman told him that he would have to pay no more than $1.5 million for the firm to represent him but then sent him a bill for an additional $834,299 after he was acquitted.  Auffenberg’s lawyers, Thomas Duckenfield III and David Holzworth of Yoss LLP, moved to stay the case pending arbitration before the D.C. Attorney/Client Arbitration Board.  Francis Carter, a Zuckerman partner handling the fee dispute litigation, points out three examples in which Auffenberg could have requested arbitration but failed to do so.  Carter also notes that Zuckerman has incurred “substantial” costs as a result of the litigation and carrying the allegedly outstanding fee and would be “prejudiced by restarting the litigation before the [Attorney/Client Arbitration Board].”