SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA  

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT 

 

On June 22, 2020, Plaintiff Essagholian and Heidari Law Group, P.C. entered into a contingency attorney's fee agreement. On October 5, 2020, Plaintiff filed this case. The Court granted summary judgment against Plaintiff for Defendant Letter Four, Inc. On April 19, 2024, Defendant Letter Four, Inc. filed a notice of judgment creditor’s lien for costs. Although Plaintiff settled with the remaining defendant, Alfred Jr. Anderson, the settlement proceeds are not enough to cover counsel’s costs and attorney’s fees in this matter. Plaintiff’s counsel now moves for declaratory relief requesting the Court to find that Heidari Law Group, P.C.’s attorney’s lien on the settlement proceeds in this case takes priority over the judgment creditor’s lien filed by Defendant Letter Four, Inc. 

The case on point is Brown v. Superior Court (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 320, 328, where the court dealt with a factually similar case and held that “[t]the trial court in the underlying action has no jurisdiction to determine the existence or validity of an attorney lien on the judgment if any party objects.” The lien must be established in a separate action.  Thus, if any party objects, including a judgment creditor, the trial court cannot determine the validity, amount, or priority of an attorney’s contractual lien within the underlying action. The attorney must file a separate lawsuit to establish the lien. Accordingly, this motion is denied. 

As to Defendant’s request in the opposition that nothing can happen with the settlement funds without the consent and approval of either Letter Four Defendants or the Court, and that the Court should order settlement funds allocated to satisfy Letter Four Defendants’ lien first before any money is allocated to Plaintiff, this request is outside the scope of this motion. If Defendant wishes to make such a request, it can do so through a properly noticed and fully briefed motion. 

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at SSCDEPT27@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court’s website at www.lacourt.org.  Please be advised that if you submit on the tentative and elect not to appear at the hearing, the opposing party may nevertheless appear at the hearing and argue the matter.  Unless you receive a submission from all other parties in the matter, you should assume that others might appear at the hearing to argue.  If the Court does not receive emails from the parties indicating submission on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may, at its discretion, adopt the tentative as the final order or place the motion off calendar.