An appellate panel has recently addressed the claims of a medical malpractice plaintiff that their trial lawyer's out-of-pocket expenses were excessive and the lawyer's commitment to pay expert witness fees unauthorized. The case returned a $1,100,000.00 settlement.  

One of the plaintiffs in the case was an attorney who engaged the law firm under a retainer agreement that provided the law firm with "the exclusive right to take all legal steps to enforce the said claim either by way of suit of settlement." Prior to trial,  the plaintiffs' settlement demand was $1,500,000.00 When the offer was rejected, plaintiffs' attorney began to prepare for trial and orally committed to pay two medical experts a $25,000 non-refundable fee for reserving their time to attend trial.  In addition, plaintiff's attorney incurred approximately $1,500 to produce various pieces of demonstrative evidence for use at trial.

In addressing the plaintiffs' contentions, the court observed that the language in the retainer agreement created an agency relationship that authorized the law firm to engage expert witnesses without prior approval. The court also observed that plaintiffs had not produced any evidence that the expert witness fees or are the cost for preparing the trial exhibits were excessive.