Engst v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company

5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6 AT SEATTLE ROBERT COOPER ENGST; and ANNA SUSAN ENGST, Plaintiffs, C19-2074 TSZ 10 v. MINUTE ORDER 11 RUIZ & SMART PLLC; and LETHER LAW GROUP, Respondents.

The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge: 15 (1) The Plaintiffs’ Motion to Determine Entitlement to and Reasonableness of Attorneys’ Fees and Liens, docket no. 59, is GRANTED. The Court has supplemental and ancillary jurisdiction to adjudicate fee issues relating to the underlying action. See Fed. Sav. and Loan Ins. Corp. v. Ferrante, 364 F.3d 1037, 1039–42 (9th Cir. 2004); 28 17 U.S.C. § 1367. The Court is in the best position to decide the attorney lien and fee issues in this case. See Venegas v. Skaggs, 867 F.2d 527, 531 (9th Cir. 1989) (“Equity, along with judicial economy, dictate that this court employ its ancillary jurisdiction to hear this motion.”). Any necessary disgorgement of fees would also fall within the Court’s inherent authority to adjudicate these disputes.

20 (2) The parties are DIRECTED to confer and file a joint status report by February 23, 2022 suggesting the scope and nature of discovery and the process for the Court to hear the issues of (i) whether the Ruiz lien is valid, (ii) if Ruiz is entitled to any fees, what amount of fees is reasonable, (iii) the reasonable amount of fees that are due to Lether, and (iv) is disgorgement of fees warranted due to any breaches of Ruiz’s and/or Lether’s ethical and fiduciary duties. The Court anticipates that there will be limited discovery and that the matter can be resolved on the briefs or with a short hearing within 60 days.

3 (3) The Clerk is directed to REOPEN this case for the purposes of resolving the issues relating to attorney fees and liens. The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Minute Order to counsel of record for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

Dated this 9th day of February, 2022.

Ravi Subramanian Clerk s/Gail Glass Deputy Clerk