| Dragutescu v City of New York |
| 2007 NY Slip Op 02506 [38 AD3d 709] |
| March 20, 2007 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Ecaterina Dragutescu, Plaintiff, v City of New York et al., Defendants. Parker & Waichman, LLP, et al., Nonparty Appellants; Jonah Grossman et al., Nonparty Respondents. |
—[*1]
Dan Mesterman, Jersey City, N.Y., nonparty respondent pro se.
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, Parker & Waichman, LLP, and Michael S. Lamonsoff, the plaintiff's former attorneys, appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (O'Donoghue, J.), dated March 2, 2006, which, upon the settlement of the action and upon the application by Jonah Grossman, one of the plaintiff's current attorneys, for a division of attorneys' fees, determined, after a hearing, that they had been discharged for cause and, therefore, were not entitled to any part of the attorneys' fees.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
Following the settlement of the plaintiff's personal injury action against the defendant City of New York, a fee dispute arose between the plaintiff's former and current attorneys, and conflicting claims were made as to whether the former attorneys had been discharged with or without cause. The Supreme Court properly held a hearing to resolve the issue (see Byrne v Leblond, 25 AD3d 640, 642 [2006]), and determined that the former attorneys had been discharged for cause. Based on the evidence presented at that hearing, we discern no basis to disturb the Supreme Court's determination (see Matter of Stevens, 252 AD2d 654, 655-656 [1998]). [*2]
In light of our determination, we do not address the appellants' remaining contention. Crane, J.P., Goldstein, Fisher and Lifson, JJ., concur.