Attorney liens.

2016
State of Wyoming
16LSO-0235
Introduced
1.2

HOUSE BILL

NO.

HB0141

Attorney liens.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s) Brown and Senator(s) Nicholas, P.

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to liens; providing for attorney liens; specifying the applicability of existing attorney lien provisions; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section
1
.

W.S. 29
‑
9
‑
102
(
a)
(intro)
and
by creating new subsection
s (c) through (f
) is amended to read:

29
‑
9
‑
102
.

Lien of attorneys on claims and monies of clients
.

(a)

For professional services performed on behalf of a client, an attorney shall have a lien for compensation
due him
earned by him before July 1, 2016
from the time of
giving notice of the lien. The attorney
'
s lien attaches upon:

(c
)

T
he liens provided by
subsections (d
)
and
(e) of
this section
shall
be available only in the amount of
reasonable fee
s
for legal services
earned on and after July 1, 2016
and for costs
advanced on behalf of a client on and after July 1, 2016
.

(d
)

An attorney shall immediately have a lien on his client
'
s money in the attorney
'
s possession. This lien is perfected by depositing the money into the attorney
'
s trust account. The attorney may transfer the client
'
s money from the attorney
'
s
trust account to the attorney
general
'
s
operating account in accordance with the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct
for Attorneys at Law
in order to pay amounts due
to
the attorney:

(i)

P
ursuant to any agreement by and between the attorney
and the client; or

(ii)

I
n the absence of
an agreement between the attorney and the client,
for a reasonable fee for legal
services provided by the attorney
to
the client and for reasonable costs advanced by the attorney on behalf of the client.

(e
)

In addition to th
e lien provided by subsection (d
) of this section, a
n attorney shall have a
lien as follows:

(i)

Upon h
is
client
'
s cause of action, claim or counterclaim, which
shall attach
to the verdict, determination, decision, award, settlement, judgment, final order or other recovery from whatever source derived, and in his client
'
s
favor;

(ii)

Upon t
he proceeds owed his
client from a
verdict, determination, decision, award, settlement, judgment, final order or other recove
ry from whatever source derived;

(iii)

Upon t
he proceeds owed his client by an adverse
party or any other third party
and which is owed because of or in connection with the legal services provided or costs advance
d by the attorney to the client;

(iv)

To perfect a
lien provided by this subsection, the
attorney shall give written notice to the adverse party or other third party by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of the adverse party or other third party. The notice shall be deemed made when received by the adverse party or other third party. The notice shall state the name, address and telephone number of the attorney
,
th
e name of the attorney
'
s client
and shall contain a statement substant
ially similar to the following:

"
This attorney
claims a lien pursuant to W.S.
29
‑
9
‑
102 against any money owed by you to my client, [insert name] (
"
my client
"
). Accordingly, any money owed to my client should be paid to me at the address I have provided in this notice. If you make payment to me as requested, then such payment shall be credited against any debt you owe my client. If you make a payment to my client rather than to me, you may be liable to me for
all amounts that should have been paid to me in compliance with this notice
.

This lien shall continue until you receive written notice that it is no longer in effect. You have the right to request, at any time and from time to time, written verification from me whether the lien is still in effect. You should send such request to the address I have provided in this notice. The request must be sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, and you must provide me with a valid mailing address for sending written verification back to you. If you send the request as directed, and if you do not receive written verification from me within ten (10) business days after you placed th
e request in the United States m
ail, then you may assume that the lien is no longer in place.
"

(v)

A copy of the notice described in
paragraph (
iv
) of this subsection also
shall be
provided
by the attorney to his client. If the adverse party or other third party is known to be represented by counsel, a copy of the notice
also
shall be given to
the
counsel;

(vi)

Any payment made by an adverse party or other third party to
the attorney providing the
notice
described in paragraph (iv) of this subsection
shall be deemed to be a payment by the adverse party or other third party to
the client
and shall be credited against any debt owed by the adverse party or other third party to t
he client;

(vii
)

Any attorney, adverse party or other third party who receives a notice described in
paragraph (iv) of this subsection
and who thereafter makes a payment to the client rather than to the attorney while the attorney
'
s lien is in place, may be liable to the attorney for
all amounts which were paid to the client and over which the attorney has a lien pursuant to this
sub
section
. A court of competent jurisdiction may adjudicate the rights of the attorneys, clients
, adverse parties
or other third parties with respect to any claim by the attorney
for amounts which were paid directly to the attorney
'
s client
;

(viii)

An
adverse party or other third party shall have the right to request, at any time and from time
to time, written verification from the attorney whether the lien is still in effect.
The
request shall be
in writing and shall be
sent to
the
address provided by the attorney in the notice by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested. The request shall include a valid mailing address for the adverse party
or other third party to which
a verification

may be sent. The request shall be deemed made when placed in the United States mail.
A
written verification from the attorney
that
the lien is
or is not
in place shall be given by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested
, on or before ten (10) days after a proper request for verification is made
.
T
he verification shall be deemed made when p
laced in the United States mai
l
. I
f the attorney verifies the lien more than ten (10) business days after a proper request is made, then the adverse party or other third party shall again be required to honor the lien, but shall
not be liable
to the attorney for payments made directly to the client more than ten (10)
business
days after the
request for verification was made and before
the date the attorney
verified the lien
;

(ix)

Within thirty (30) days after the client is no longer indebted to the attorney for fees and costs
over which a lien has been perfected pursuant to this subsection
,
the attorney shall give writte
n notice to
his client,
the adverse party and
other third party that the lien is released.
N
otice shall be given by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of th
e
client,
adverse party and
other third party. The notice shall be deemed made when placed in the United States mail. In addition to any actual damages suffered by the client, an attorney refusing or neglecting to give a notice of lien release
as required by this paragraph
, and after having received by certified or registered mail a
request in writing to give the
notice,
shall be
liable
to the client
for damages
in an amount
not less than one
‑
tenth of one percent (.10%) of the original principal amount of the
lien
per day from the date the attorney receives the written request t
o give a notice of
lien release
until the attorney gives a notice of
lien release
. The damages authorized by this
paragraph
shall not exceed one hu
ndred dollars ($100.00) per day;

(x)

Any money received by the attorney as a result of the notice described in
paragraph (
iv
) of this subsection
shall thereafter be considered to be the client
'
s money in the attorney
'
s possession and shall be dealt with as provided in
subsection (d
) of this section.

(f)

Nothing in this section
shall prevent the client from disputing the amount charged by the attorney, and if a court or agency with jurisdiction over a fee dispute determines that the attorney has received, taken or demanded an unreasonable amount for fees for legal services provided or costs advanced, the attorney shall remit back to the client any unreasonable excess amount received or taken.

Section 2
.

This act is effective July 1, 2016.

(END)

1
HB0141