Nelson & Hill, P.A. v. Wood

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• granting summary judgment on punitive damages dependent on claim for breach of fiduciary duty
• rejecting quantum meruit claim brought by attorneys who had already “received a reasonable fee”
• where State Bar disciplinary standards in force at the time required contingent fee agreements to be in writing, an oral contingent fee contract would violate public policy and thus would be unenforceable
• recovery in quantum meruit unavailable where attorney was attempting to recover contingency fee, instead of the value of services rendered, and attorney had already been compensated the reasonable value of the services provided to the client
• “There is no magic in nomenclature, and we judge pleadings, motions and orders not by their name but by their function and substance, being always mindful to construe such documents in a manner compatible with the best interests of justice.”
• “There is no magic in nomenclature, and we judge pleadings, motions and orders not by their name but by their function and substance, being always mindful to construe such documents in a manner compatible with the best interests of justice.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).