Mager v. Bultena’s Empirical Analysis
2002
Citation profile
1 district · 12 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 31 U.S.C. § 3729 (False Claims Act) · 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (False Claims Act)
Relies on Styer v. Hugo · Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Anthony · Kemmerer v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing · Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Frankel · 422 Pa. Super. 262 - Styer v. Hugo
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“No Pennsylvania appellate court has ever awarded a proportionate share of a contingency fee to a firm [or an attorney] discharged by the client prior to the occurrence of the contingency, for the simple reason that a client may discharge an attorney at any time, for any reason. Once the contractual relationship has been severed, any recovery must necessarily be based on the work performed pursuant to the contract up to that point. Where the contingency has not occurred, the fee has not been earned. An attorney, contrary to the argument urged upon us by [former counsel], does not acquire a vested interest in a client’s action.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“We held, in Styer v. Hugo, 422 Pa.Super. 262 , 619 A.2d 847 (1993), affirmed, 535 Pa. 610 , 637 A.2d 276 (1994), that an attorney, who initially represented a client and is dismissed, does not have a quantum meruit action against the attorney who ultimately settles the case. Id. at 271, 619 A.2d at 352 . We also stated that the initial attorney may have had a valid quantum meruit claim against the client as of when the attorney was terminated. Id. at 270 , 619 A.2d at 351 .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“While the termination of the contract by Mr. Bultena created an immediate right in ML & W to compensation for all work performed and costs incurred pursuant to that contract, that right included only quantum meruit compensation which is to be calculated based on the number of hours worked multiplied by a fair fee.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. In re Thorpe
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.