ALBANY – The Appellate Division, Third Department, yesterday resolved a protracted fee dispute among three law firms and awarded the lion’s share to the firm that obtained the best result in a personal injury case. But the court said that while Finkelstein & Partners LLP of Newburgh deserves far more than its two predecessors in the case, it does not deserve as much as the trial judge had ordered.
Buchta v. Union-Endicott Central School District, 90976, arose from an injury suffered by a 13-year-old girl in 1993, and her parents’ persistence in pursuing an acceptable settlement. They hired and fired two law firms before retaining the Finkelstein firm and securing the desired result.
