Ellerin & Associates and William J. Morton “Ellerin” appeal from the trial court’s ruling awarding them the net sum of $7,690.05 in attorney fees in connection with their representation of Steve and Cynthia Brawley in a medical malpractice action. Ellerin challenges the trial court’s ruling on several grounds. We find that the trial court erred in several respects, necessitating reversal of the trial court’s order. The record shows that Ellerin asserted an attorney’s lien against the proceeds of a settlement the Brawleys obtained in a medical malpractice suit on behalf of their son, who was injured during birth. Ellerin represented the Brawleys in the medical malpractice action and took the action through a jury trial, which ended in a mistrial. Shortly thereafter, the Brawleys dismissed Ellerin and settled with the defendant doctor. Ellerin then asserted its lien for unpaid attorney fees and expenses of litigation and filed a motion to intervene in the medical malpractice case and to foreclose its lien against the settlement proceeds. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered an order awarding Ellerin a fee of $20,000, which was 40 percent of the settlement proceeds, the percentage specified in the contract between the parties. The trial court also concluded, however, that Ellerin was not entitled to recover $10,422.51 in additional unpaid expenses sought and that the Brawleys were entitled to a credit of $12,309.95 for expenses previously paid by them which the trial court found unreasonable. The court subtracted these previously paid expenses from the $20,000 awarded to Ellerin as fee, leaving Ellerin with a net payment of only $7,690.05 from the settlement proceeds.1
1. In the lien Ellerin filed, it asserted its entitlement to a fee under the alternative ground of quantum meruit as well as under the contract. The alternative ground was also clearly raised at the hearing. The trial court decided, however, that the lien created by the fee contract was enforceable2 and did not reach the alternative ground for awarding Ellerin’s fee. The $20,000 fee awarded was based upon the provisions of the fee contract. On appeal, neither party questions the validity and enforceability of the fee contract. We must address this issue, however, because the trial court based several rulings on contract provisions, and those rulings are challenged on appeal.
