how do the plaintiffs in a case split attorney fees?

[quincy]

You could sit down with all of the other plaintiffs to work out the attorney payment so that no one is left paying more than their fair share.

 

[civeni]

I was part of a lawsuit- there were 15 plaintiffs at one time which reduced to 11-over the course of the case. One member of the plaintiff group has paid most of the attorney fees. The balance is becoming due now and that plaintiff is looking for payment. We won our case and in the judges order, it lists 15 people as plaintiffs in the versus section but only 11 in the actual paragraph that contains the order. These are referred to as "moving plaintiffs". I contend that I owe 1/11th of the TOTAL charges by our attorney since 11 people are specified and will benefit. Another member of the plaintiff group, had purchased property of other remaining plaintiffs (2 properties) in the group recently and he believes since he did that, I should pay 1/9th since there are only 9 people in the plaintiff group now, not 11 as indicated in the order to New Orleans attorneys- since he bought two other plaintiffs out. The order benefits the land/property.

one of the plaintiffs, mike, has paid all the fees to this point to the tune of $6500, but there is still $3500 left to pay. I signed no type of contract with the attorney.

My thought process is that i would pay the attorney, $10,000/11, which is $909.10. That way I am covered as far as being collected on by the attorney in case other plaintiffs choose not to pay anything. The other plaintiff is saying I should pay $1,111.11 ($10,000/9) as he bought two of the other moving plaintiffs out.

Is my thinking correct? Am i missing something?

thanks,

Pete.

Your thinking appears to be fair and logical. Dividing the remaining attorney fees equally among the 11 remaining plaintiffs ensures that each person contributes an equal share, regardless of any individual transactions or agreements between plaintiffs. Your calculation of $909.10 per plaintiff seems appropriate given the remaining balance of $3500. It's essential to communicate with the other plaintiffs and come to a mutual agreement on how to proceed. If there are any disagreements, you may want to seek legal advice or mediation to resolve the issue.

 

[quincy]

Depending on the (unwritten) agreement the one plaintiff had with the attorney, it’s possible that the attorney could simply deduct from the damages awarded in the lawsuit his fees for handling the case, leaving the plaintiffs to divide up the remaining amount among themselves. That eliminates for the plaintiffs the threat of a lawsuit filed by the attorney over the failure of the plaintiffs to pay.