Opinion
02-02-2017
ROBINSON & YABLON, P.C., Plaintiff–Appellant v. BORRELL & RISO, LLP, Defendant–Respondent.
Jason Levine, New York, for appellant. Borrell & Riso, LLP, Staten Island (Jeffrey F.G. Borrell of counsel), for respondent.
Jason Levine, New York, for appellant.
Borrell & Riso, LLP, Staten Island (Jeffrey F.G. Borrell of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Manuel J. Mendez, J.), entered July 19, 2016, awarding defendant $10,000, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered January 7, 2016, which granted defendant's motion to confirm the report and recommendation of the referee, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in the appeal from the judgment.
In the underlying uninsured motorist action, defendant, outgoing counsel, interviewed the client, submitted the notice of intention to make a claim, processed the client's no fault benefits, requested a Connecticut DMV search, requested and received medical records and reports, filed a demand for uninsured arbitration against State Farm Insurance Company, and requested witness statements. Plaintiff, which then took over the representation, did the remainder of the work, and obtained a $100,000 award from the arbitrator.
Given the limited scope of litigation in uninsured motorist cases, and the amount of work remaining in the case at the time it was taken over by plaintiff, the apportionment to defendant of $10,000 of the total contingency fee of $32,850.03 was reasonable (see Rosado v. Alhati, 109 A.D.3d 753, 972 N.Y.S.2d 17 [1st Dept.2013], lv. denied 22 N.Y.3d 864, 2014 WL 1281938 [2014] ).
SWEENY, J.P., ACOSTA, MOSKOWITZ, KAPNICK, KAHN, JJ., concur.