Court of Appeal Declines to Review Attorney Fee-Split Case

The California Court of Appeal has declined to review the decision of a workers’ comp appeals judge regarding how to divide attorney fees in a case that settled for $8.9 million. The decision may spell the end of the so-called Kahn rule, an informal but long-standing system for dividing fees when an injured worker is represented by more than one attorney or firm. The fee dispute arose in the case of Antonio Enriquez, an 18-year-old painter who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2004 when scaffolding gave way and he fell about 20 feet. Enriquez was working for Willie’s Painting ...