Mazie Slater Law Firm Allegedly Takes Double Fees for Legal Work Class Action

This class action brings suit against two lawyers—David Mazie and Adam Slater—and their law firm, Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, LLC, alleging that they have overcharged individual clients for legal fees and costs, “in violation of applicable Court Rules and Rules of Professional Conduct. The complaint alleges that the attorneys earned substantial legal fees for work that they had already been paid for under retainer agreements with individuals.

The class for this action is all individuals who retained the firm of Mazie Slater to handle their Benicar claims. The size of this class is estimated at 200 members.

A number of lawsuits relating to the blood pressure medicine Benicar were gathered into a multidistrict litigation with the MDL number 2606, in a New Jersey federal court. The case name was In Re Benicar (Olmesartan) Products Liability Litigation.

On August 1, 2017, Daiichi Sankyo agreed to settle the litigation, which included 2,300 cases, for $300 million. The settlement amount was increased later on.

David Mazie was part of the leadership of that litigation. He was named co-lead counsel and made a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee.

Adam Slater became a member of the leadership committee, and also of the fee split committee that worked out the distribution of the fees and costs received by the leadership law firms. The complaint alleges, “In that role, Slater voted his firm millions in fees and costs for work that had been performed for his individual clients.”

Lawyers sometimes work on lawsuits without immediate pay, hoping for a large payout when the suit is finally tried or settled. According to the complaint, the attorneys and their firm “were obligated to seek approval of any fees charged in excess of $3 million under the applicable court rules.” However, it claims, they “intentionally failed to seek court approval and instead charged the maximum amount to each class member…”

“On information and belief,” the complaint claims, “Slater never disclosed to his clients that his firm had [received], or would receive[,] substantial fees and costs for the same, or substantially the same, work that he had performed for each client and for which he received a full fee under the individual retainer agreements.”

The complaint claims that these acts constituted negligence, conversion, and a breach of the standard of care an attorney is supposed to provide. The defendants also did not credit their customers when they were reimbursed for their expenses in working on the case.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Conversion
Tags: Excessive Fees, Legal Fees, Overcharges for Services