7 Guam Code Ann. § 26601
Terms Used In 7 Guam Code Ann. § 26601
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(1) Fifty percent (50%) on the first One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00) recovered;
(2) Forty percent (40%) on the next Two Thousand Dollars
($2,000.00) recovered;
(3) Thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) on the next
Forty-seven Thousand Dollars ($47,000.00) recovered;
(4) Twenty percent (20%) on the next Fifty Thousand Dollars
($50,000.00) recovered;
(5) Ten percent (10%) on any amount recovered over One
Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00); and
(6) Where the amount recovered is for the benefit of an infant or incompetent and the action is settled without trial the foregoing limits shall apply, except that the fee on any amount recovered up to Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%).
(b) No attorney shall enter into such contingent fee arrangement with his client without first advising the client of this right and affording the client an opportunity to retain the attorney under an arrangement whereby the attorney would be compensated on the basis of the reasonable value of his services.
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7 Guam Code Ann. CIVIL PROCEDURE
CH. 26 MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
(c) Such contingent legal fee shall be computed on the net sum recovered by the client after deducting disbursements made in connection with the institution and prosecution of the client’s claim and litigation.
(d) The contingent legal fee within the permissible maximum limits shall include legal services rendered on any appeal or review or on any retrial, but this shall not be deemed to require an attorney to take an appeal.
(e) If, at the conclusion of any such action for damages, an attorney considers that the contingent fee within such maximum limits to be insufficient, he may apply to the court, with written notice to the client, for an increase in the fee, which the court after a hearing may grant in such amount, if any, as is deemed reasonable in all of the circumstances.
(f) In all cases not included within the scope of subsection (a) of this section alone, the measure and mode of compensation of attorneys and counselors at law is left to the agreement, expressed or implied, of the parties.
(g) Parties to actions or proceedings are entitled to costs and disbursements, as hereinafter provided.
SOURCE: CCP § 1021 repealed and reenacted by P.L. 13-116:2 (12/13/75).
CROSS-REFERENCES: 7 Guam Code Ann. 9A, Article 2, as amended. This article contains the requirement for written retainers, in addition to other matters. See also Rule 1.5, Guam Rules of Professional Conduct [for Attorneys], 7 Guam Code Ann. Appendix.