Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal has blocked an attempt by New York law firm Parker Waichman to collect a $4.2 million contingency fee from a tobacco verdict, after an attorney left partway through the case and took the client with him.

The case made it clear: A firm is entitled to the full contingency fee for general partners who leave and take clients with them, but not if the departing attorneys are limited partners or associates. And the ruling created important case law for attorneys leaving their employers.