Jury to decide if lawyer is entitled to his fees
A Malibu property owner has hired an attorney to fight off his former attorney, who says he owes him tens of thousands of dollars for work he has performed for almost a decade.
And now it’s up to a Santa Monica jury to decide if Orlando Aliberti, 84, owes attorney Richard Grimwade any money. Grimwade claims Aliberti owes him $146,000. When the real estate investor refused to pay him, Grimwade sued.
Grimwade and Paul Cohen, Aliberti’s new lawyer, made their opening statements Tuesday in Santa Monica Superior Court. Grimwade represented Aliberti in an insurance dispute following the fires that occurred in November of 1993 in Malibu. Aliberti retained Grimwade to recover more than $2 million from Allstate Insurance Co. to rebuild a six-unit apartment building Aliberti owns on Rambla Pacifica in Malibu that was destroyed in the fires.
Cohen said Grimwade took advantage of the elderly Aliberti by telling him he had a good chance of winning big.
“This has gone on and on and on,” Cohen told the jury of nine women and five men, including alternates. “All the while he’s telling my client this is a great case. This is money in the bank. This is a slam dunk.”
But Grimwade painted a different scene, describing Aliberti as a real estate magnate who refused generous settlement offers by Allstate and pushed for a trial.
“I gave Mr. Aliberti the trial he wanted,” Grimwade told the jury, in the near-empty courtroom of Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Valerie Baker. “Unfortunately, he didn’t win.”
“I gave Mr. Aliberti the trial he wanted. Unfortunately, he didn’t win.” — — RICHARD GRIMWADE Attorney
With Grimwade’s help, Aliberti a WWII veteran and former middle school teacher, recovered more than $2 million in a separate claim against Allstate to rebuild his charred home, which sits uphill from the apartment building.
But because he had a “limited liability” clause in the insurance policy covering the apartment building, Aliberti was given only $450,000 by Allstate to rebuild. Unsatisfied, Aliberti sued Allstate. The case was first tossed out of court on the grounds that Aliberti waited too long to file it. Grimwade appealed that ruling and won, but when it finally went to court, after prolonged negotiations and other behind-the-scenes legal wrangling, a jury ruled that Allstate didn’t owe any additional money.
Aliberti wanted Grimwade to represent him in an appeal. But because he said he was due an outstanding payment of $146,000, Grimwade refused and dropped the case. Grimwade said he was only paid about $5,000 for settling the insurance payment relating to the house and about $4,000 in separate payments.
But it gets more complicated. Throughout the proceedings, Aliberti renegotiated his contract with Grimwade at least once and maybe twice, depending on which side one listens to. Though he was originally hired at $250 an hour, Grimwade’s fee was later set at $125 an hour with him also receiving 20 percent of any possible settlement.
Grimwade said he later offered to take 40 percent of any settlement without an hourly charge, but he said he never heard back from Aliberti so he revoked the offer.
Cohen said the pair agreed on the 40 percent contingency with no hourly rate.
“Based on the result of the case, any reasonable fee would be no fee at all,” Cohen told jurors at the close of his opening statements.
Grimwade took the stand as a witness immediately after opening statements. Testimony from witnesses is expected to continue today.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 22, 2003. Read the original PDF.