| Siu Kiu Lam v Loo |
| 2017 NY Slip Op 07627 [155 AD3d 660] |
| November 1, 2017 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Siu Kiu Lam et al., Plaintiffs, v Nelly Loo, M.D., et al., Defendants. Morelli Law Firm, PLLC, Nonparty Appellant. |
Morelli Law Firm, PLLC, New York, NY (Benedict P. Morelli of counsel), nonparty-appellant pro se.
In an action to recover damages for medical malpractice, nonparty Morelli Law Firm, PLLC, appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Bunyan, J.), dated June 8, 2016, which denied its motion pursuant to Judiciary Law § 474-a for an increased contingency fee award due to extraordinary circumstances.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
Contrary to its contention, the nonparty-appellant law firm (hereinafter the law firm) failed to
demonstrate that its statutory compensation in the sum of $376,198.50 under the Judiciary Law
§ 474-a (2) schedule was inadequate. The law firm expended approximately 970
hours, that included 9 days of trial, over the course of the 7
Inasmuch as the law firm failed to make the threshold showing that compensation in this case was inadequate, it is not necessary to reach the issue of whether extraordinary circumstances existed.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in denying the law firm's motion pursuant to Judiciary Law § 474-a for an increased contingency fee award (see Yalango v Popp, 84 NY2d 601 [1994]). Leventhal, J.P., Barros, Brathwaite Nelson and Christopher, JJ., concur.