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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
January 24, 2013 Session HILL BOREN, P.C. v. PATY, RYMER and ULIN, P.C. and JAMES ERIC HAMM
Direct Appeal from the Chancery Court for Madison County No. 67226 Walter C. Kurtz, Sr. Judge, By Designation

No. W2012-00925-COA-R3-CV - Filed March 19, 2013

This appeal involves a dispute over an attorney's fee involving two law firms and their client. The parties originally entered into a contract whereby both law firms would jointly represent the client as a plaintiff in a personal injury suit. Two years later, the client discharged one of the law firms. The other firm continued to represent the client, and when the case settled over a year later, the remaining firm retained the entire contingency fee. The discharged firm sued the client and the other firm, alleging that it was entitled to a share of the contingency fee and asserting numerous causes of action. The defendants claimed that the discharged firm was limited to quantum meruit. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all claims. The plaintiff law firm appeals. We affirm.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed A LAN E. H IGHERS, P. J., W.S., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which H OLLY M. K IRBY, J., and J. S TEVEN S TAFFORD, J., joined. R. Sadler Bailey, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Hill Boren, P.C. Selma Cash Paty, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellee, Paty, Rymer & Ulin, P.C. John W. Chandler, Jr., Chattanooga, TN, for the appellee, James Eric Hamm

OPINION I. F ACTS & P ROCEDURAL H ISTORY

James Eric Hamm ("Mr. Hamm") suffered an injury while working for his employer, a railroad, on November 8, 2005. Mr. Hamm was twenty-nine years old at the time. As a result of the accident, Mr. Hamm underwent surgery to have a plate and screws placed in his neck and a disc replaced with donor material. Because Mr. Hamm was employed by a railroad, he was required to seek recovery from his employer pursuant to the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A.

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