A California appeals court ruling underlined “a curious gap” in the state law over the recoverability of unpaid fees when attorneys sue clients for breach of contract.

A Thursday decision from California’s Second District Court of appeal noted that in 1993, a state bar committee raised the issue of how Business and Professions Code Section 6148 clarifies that an attorney may recover a reasonable fee for services absent a valid fee agreement, but fails to set a standard for fees when clients breach a fee agreement. Nearly a decade later, the appeals court said it was unable to find a clear standard in the statutory or case law.