Stench wafts from law firm’s $ 17- million invoice

Sticker shock: Judge reduces woman’s $ 16,971,015 bill to $ 5 million

Big cellphone roaming charges are one thing, but how about a jaw- dropping $ 16,971,015 bill from your lawyer for less than a year’s work?

Better yet, how about being told by a B. C. Supreme Court registrar that the bill is OK but using different math she managed to knock it down to $ 9 million?

At least Supreme Court Justice Richard Goepel thought this kind of legal legerdemain would bring the profession into disrepute.

“To allow the fees awarded in this case given the work the solicitors actually did would call into question the integrity of the profession,” Justice Goepel said.

“A contingency fee agreement is not a lottery ticket.”

He rolled the fee back to a paltry $ 5 million.

Contingency fees, which reward lawyers with a percentage of the final settlement for a win- or- get- paid- nothing risk, can often be staggering but there is a general stench wafting off this file.

It began on June 7, 2008 with the death of Jack Cewe, a successful 86- year- old B. C. businessman. By 2005, Cewe was blind and he became despondent after the death of his daughter in Oct. 5, 2007.

Between October 2007 and his death, Cewe executed three new wills and two alter- ego trusts created by a well- known wills and estates practitioner.

If those documents had not been signed, his granddaughter, Kirsten Mide- Wilson, would have been the sole beneficiary of Cewe’s considerable estate, worth an estimated $ 100 million — primarily his eponymous construction and paving company, Jack Cewe Ltd.

Instead, she learned outside her grandfather’s hospital room that the bulk of the estate went to George Home, Cewe’s longtime financial adviser, and Alice Gibson, Cewe’s longtime companion.

Mide- Wilson would only get his Port Moody house and $ 500,000.

She suspected Home and Gibson had somehow unduly influenced Cewe.

Ultimately, she ended up hiring the relatively small law firm of Hungerford Tomyn Lawrenson and Nichols.

Gavin Crickmore, called to the bar in 1995, was the lead lawyer; his partner, Harry Tomyn, called to the bar in 1975, was also heavily involved.

Robert Hungerford, called to the bar in 1974 and a senior litigator at the firm, played a relatively minor role, while younger lawyers Mikis Manolis and Melanie Teetaert, both called in 2002, did extensive work.

Mide- Wilson accepted the contingency agreement on Dec. 8, 2008 to recover her grandfather’s estate and the litigation was settled out of court on July 30, 2009.

She agreed to pay Home and Gibson $ 4 million each.

On March 25, 2011, the law firm issued a final bill — fees: $ 16,979,015; disbursements: $ 26,895.22; plus HST/ GST on fees and taxable disbursements: $ 2,038,639.56.

Mide- Wilson balked and the lawyers applied to have their bill reviewed by the court.

Following a 19- day hearing — yes, 19 days — registrar Kathryn Sainty said the agreement was “fair and reasonable” but reduced the value of the assets recovered, which reduced the fee to $ 9 million.

Mide- Wilson appealed, saying even that was far too great and grossly disproportionate. Justice Goepel agreed with the registrar that there was nothing wrong with the original pact.

“The need to pay legal fees can often negate a party’s expectation,” he said.

“In serious personal injury cases lawyers are most often paid under contingency fee agreements. In such cases, plaintiffs seek an award to fund their ongoing costs of future care. While the awards are often made with mathematical precision, the fund can rarely meet the plaintiff’s needs once legal fees are deducted.”

Nevertheless, he said, the fees in this case were inappropriate.

The justice added that “there is a point when the differential between the work done and the fees payable under the contingency agreement must be adjusted to maintain the integrity of the profession …. There must be a relationship between the legal services actually provided and the ultimate fee.”

Senior Vancouver lawyer John Hunter told the court a proper fee would be $ 2.5 million given that the firm’s time records indicated roughly $ 1.1 million was due if the work were billed on an hourly basis.

But Justice Goepel thought the lawyers deserved more given the risk they took.

“Taking all the relevant factors into account, I would substitute a fee of $ 5 million for that awarded by the registrar,” he said.