Law Firm of Thomas A. Tarro, III v. Checrallah
Annotate this CaseIn 1989, Defendant hired a law firm and one of its attorneys (collectively, Plaintiffs) to represent Defendant in her father's probate proceedings. The retainer agreement provided that Defendant would pay Plaintiffs fifteen percent of any amounts she recovered in exchange for any settlement Plaintiffs negotiated on her behalf. Plaintiffs successfully negotiated the probate settlement under the terms of which Defendant was to receive on half the interest and principal payable under a promissory note (Victory note). In 2002, Defendant discharged Plaintiffs as her attorney. In 2005, Defendant settled her claim pertaining to the Victory note in a receivership proceeding. Defendant received more than $1 million as payment of her claim, none of which Plaintiffs received. Plaintiffs subsequently filed suit against Defendant, alleging that Defendant breached her contract with them by failing to pay fifteen percent of each payment received under the receivership settlement as required by the 1989 retainer agreement. The trial court granted summary judgment for Plaintiffs, reasoning that Plaintiffs earned fifteen percent of any amounts received by Defendant when they successfully negotiated the probate settlement in 1989. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that at the time Defendant discharged Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs' right to receive their fee from amounts eventually recovered by Defendant had vested.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.