Laconia lawyer Harvey Garod sues fellow attorney, says client was poached

By BEA LEWIS, for THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

CONCORD — A Laconia attorney is fighting tooth and nail to be paid for legal work he performed for a client who left him, only to hire another lawyer who negotiated a settlement in her personal injury case.

Attorney Harvey Garod, who has a law office in Meredith and often advertises on TV for statewide personal injury cases, believes he has a contractual lien interest in the settlement amount his former client Lisa Lewis received for injuries she suffered in a motor vehicle accident in July 2011.

Oral arguments before the New Hampshire Supreme Court are scheduled to be held on Jan. 26.

In his appeal, Garod claims predatory lawyers "gleefully lie in wait, ready to strike and hijack existing clients of other counsel, reap profit from their work, yet adamantly refuse to pay for the gain received. They love to play but never pay."

In March 2014, Lewis discharged Garod, and retained attorney R. James Steiner of Concord. In July 2014, Steiner filed a personal injury suit in Hillsborough County Superior Court North on Lewis' behalf, shortly

before the statute of limitations expired.

Garod maintains he represented Lewis for about 21 months and that his advanced costs totaled $2,440.29. Lewis hired him in May 2012, under the terms of what Garod says was his standard contingency fee contract.

In the fall of 2013, after Lewis had reached a medical endpoint, Garod recommended an initial settlement demand by letter dated Dec. 12, 2013. Garod maintains he received no meaningful response from Lewis

until she notified him on March 1, 2014 that he was discharged, and instructed him to transfer her file to Steiner

The following month, Garod attempted to become a party to the suit, claiming a "lien" arising from what he asserted was a contingent fee attorney/client letter. Lewis objected, citing state law that says a lawyer discharged from representing a client is prohibited "from recovering on (a fee) contract."

Judge Diane Nicoloski denied Garod's request to intervene, citing the legal authority contained in the objection. Garod then filed a motion seeking to vacate the judge's order and the court addressed it as an untimely request for reconsideration and denied it.

The underlying personal injury case was settled in September 2015 as a result of mediation.

In his response to the appeal, Steiner asserts that Garod played no part in the filing of the suit, prosecution of the case, nor the mediation or settlement, but attempted to "impose himself," through communication with Steiner, as the alleged holder of a lien for the purposes of the distribution of the settlement proceeds.

On Sept. 11, 2015, Lewis asked the Superior Court to order that the settlement check be made payable solely to her and Steiner. Judge Kenneth Brown granted the request and the check was paid and the settlement concluded. Garod then filed a series of unsuccessful motions in the underlying Lewis personal injury case to intervene, and to foreclose what he claimed was a contractual lien with Lewis and also asking for Steiner's recusal.

In October 2015, Garod filed suit against Steiner in Belknap County Superior Court seeking to recover for the legal work he had earlier performed for Lewis. Judge James O'Neill granted Steiner's request to dismiss, holding that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

In responding to the appeal that was filed with the state's highest court last March, Steiner asserts that Judge O'Neill correctly analyzed the complaint and the amended complaint, and properly granted dismissal.

Citing "the insulting nature of the language" used in Garod's brief, Steiner wrote, should support a finding that the appeal be "deemed frivolous." Asserting that the appeal was undertaken "in bad faith," Steiner said he should be awarded double his cost of defending it.