Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Annals of overreaching legal fees

An appeals court in Missouri has ruled (Susan Mello v. Anita Davis and McDonnell-Douglas) that a lawyer who represented a client in an employment claim is not entitled to collect 35% of her client’s future salary and benefits by way of a claimed contingent fee. Best (if somewhat unsettling) quote from the court’s caustic opinion: […]

An appeals court in Missouri has ruled (Susan Mello v. Anita Davis and McDonnell-Douglas) that a lawyer who represented a client in an employment claim is not entitled to collect 35% of her client’s future salary and benefits by way of a claimed contingent fee. Best (if somewhat unsettling) quote from the court’s caustic opinion:

if it was Mello’s intent to have her client surrender 35 to 45% of all future earnings until the welcome hand of death freed her from this servitude, the contract needed to say as much.

(Via George Lenard, Dec. 9, who says the case “would be funny if it weren’t so sad”).

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5 Comments

  • Reader John Walsh writes (slightly abridged):

    I just googled the name of the attorney (Susan Mello) and found this gem. It seems that Ms. Mello has a penchant for going after ex-clients. And the judges on the Appeals Court didn’t find much merit in her case, saying:

    “Needless to say, there is nothing concise about plaintiff’s legal reasoning, and nothing summary about her explanations. For example, her complaint in I.A.a. as to Hirschfeld leaves us mystified. Apparently, plaintiff is claiming the trial court erred in a ruling because Hirschfeld waived a defense. What the ruling was and what the defense was remains a mystery.”

    and

    “Plaintiff’s egregious violations of Rule 84.04(d) preserve nothing for our review, requiring our dismissal of her appeal. Although sometimes courts have been reluctant to punish innocent parties for the shortcomings of appellate counsel, see Thummel, 570 S.W.2d at 690, here we have no such hesitancy where the appellate counsel herself is the party that will suffer the sanction. Plaintiff’s disregard of appellate rules has previously been noted in Clear v. Missouri Coordinating Bd. for Higher Educ., 23 S.W.3d 896 (Mo.App. E.D. 2000) and Buford v. Mello, 40 S.W.3d 400 (Mo.App. E.D. 2001). And continues to be noted even today. Mello v. Giliberto et al., No. ED79491 (Mo.App. E.D. Feb. 5, 2002).”

    and

    “Searching the record here to ascertain the gravamina of plaintiff’s claims of error would be like searching for needles in a haystack. In Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 537 (1953), Justice Jackson observed that “(h)e who must search a haystack for a needle is likely to end up with the attitude that the needle is not worth the search.” Here, we are frankly skeptical of the existence of any needles. But, more importantly, we declare ourselves unwilling to search in this haystack.”

    I’m not an attorney, but: Wow.

  • I’m very curious about the ads Ms Mello has running in the various media. How, with judgments like these against her, can she sustain a practice? Wouldn’t her name and reputation be enough to scare away potential clients/defendants?

  • Well, at least overreach is actually attainable. Sad that it has to go this far, but, even sadder, it’s almost encouraging that there is still such a point recognized by the courts.

    • By Deoxy

  • Ms. Mello appears to be a winner. From the treasure troves of Google caching, here’s a decision by the Maine Board of Bar Examiners denying her admission.

  • To summarize, the State of Maine Board of Bar Examiners noted:

    “The Applicant practices in Missouri. A series of judicial opinions there have indicated that the Applicant cannot or will not comply with procedural requirements.”

    “The Applicant has filed many pro se actions against various vendors and service providers [citation ommitted], and has also been sued by a variety of the same.”

    “Throughout these proceedings, for example, the Applicant has filed duplicative, sometimes barely coherent motions or requests, often via telecopier, which faxes stop in mid-stream.”

    “The Applicant has also sued clients to collect fees a total of 42 times.”

    And this powerful conclusion –

    “Thus, as both the Missouri rulings regarding Ms. Mello’s appellate filings and our own experience indicate, Ms. Mello does not or cannot pursue legal proceedings in an efficient and reasonable manner. What appears to elevate this flaw into an incurable character attribute is Ms. Mello’s refusal to accept responsibility or recognize that her behavior is in any way questionable.”

    • By Miguel