The Nevada Supreme Court held that NRS 7.095 capped contingency fees on a medical-negligence settlement and clarified when counsel must perfect an attorney lien.
The Nevada Supreme Court, en banc, overruled Capriati Construction Corp. v. Yahyavi and held that NRCP 68 attorney fee awards in contingency cases must reflect only the value of work performed after the offer of judgment was served — not the entire contingency fee — because fees are incurred as work is performed, not at the time of judgment. The court reversed an $818,047 award covering a 40 percent contingency fee in a case where the offer was served just 24 days before trial, four years into litigation.
The Nevada Supreme Court reversed a 43 percent markup on an attorney fee award under NRS 22.100(3), holding that for a paying client with private counsel at a freely negotiated hourly rate, the billed rate presumptively establishes the market rate for lodestar calculations. A district court may award a higher rate only when the applicant demonstrates the firm discounted its rates for pro bono or public-interest representation — a finding that the firm “could have charged more” is insufficient.