A New York event worker who was awarded a historic multi-million dollar verdict in 2019 after an accident at Jones Beach left him with severe brain injuries years ago is now embroiled in a dispute with his former lawyer over $5.5 million in legal fees.
The amount is on top of the more than $18 million that Long Island man Mark Perez, 38, has already paid attorney Benedict Morelli.
Morelli is now claiming that he is entitled to $5.5 million in legal fees, and filed a lawsuit last month, according to the New York Post.
Perez received a $109 million jury verdict in 2019 after suing Live Nation for an accident that happened in 2013.
In June 2013, a forklift crashed into the structure Perez was working on at the Jones Beach Theater in New York, causing him to fall 10 feet. He suffered skull fractures and traumatic brain injury that required multiple surgeries.
Mark Perez, 38, who was awarded a multi-million verdict after an accident at Jones Beach, is being sued by his ex-attorney, Benedict Morelli, who claims he is entitled to $5.5 million in legal fees
Attorney Benedict Morelli said he never agreed to the hourly pay rate and that Perez ‘chose to remain silent’ about the extra 10 percent fee until the case was closed
Perez and his attorney at the time, Morelli, agreed that Morelli would get one-third of the verdict award money as a contingency fee.
But when the verdict went to appeal, Morelli tried to negotiate an additional 10-percent fee.
Perez, however, sought to pay the lawyer an hourly rate, according to his counterclaims to the suit Morelli filed against him last month.
‘I think that lawyers should be paid well for their work, a person like me needs them to fight for them but for Mr. Morelli to take away so much of the settlement, it just seems wrong,’ Perez recently wrote to the judge that oversaw his personal injury trial.
Perez never signed an agreement over an additional fee, the Post reported, and Morelli continued working on the case and he was able to get Perez a $55 million settlement.
Out of the settlement total, Perez only received about $28 million.
‘[Morelli] continues to insist that he should be paid $5.5 million for the post-trial and appellate work (on top of the $18,333,333.30 that Mr. Perez has already paid in legal fees), demonstrating that Morelli’s greed knows no bounds,’ Perez’s countersuit alleges.
Last week, Morelli asked a judge to throw out his former client’s counterclaims, stating he never agreed to the hourly pay rate and that Perez ‘chose to remain silent’ about the extra 10 percent fee until the case was closed.
In June 2013, a forklift crashed into the structure Perez was working on at the Jones Beach Theater, causing him to fall 10 feet. He suffered skull fractures that required multiple surgeries
‘Mr. Perez accepted the benefits of the firm’s work with respect to the appeal, did not terminate the firm, and did not ask the firm to stop working on the matter,’ Morelli’s lawyers wrote in the Thursday filing. ‘He chose to remain silent while the firm completed the appeal and thereby ratified the 10% fee agreement.’
In a letter to the judge, Perez stated, ‘I am the one that lives with seizures, surgeries and the constant fear of more medical problems.
‘I hope you are able to help me now by deciding what should be done here. Thank you for hearing my trial. I’m looking forward to moving on and putting this last upsetting situation behind me.’
Perez’s doctors estimated a 10 percent survival rate when they first treated him, according to the initial lawsuit. Since his recovery, they estimate that Perez will suffer lifelong consequences from his brain injuries.
Aside from physical injuries, Perez has also suffered mental and emotional injuries with the loss of his relationship with his fiancée, his ability to enjoy former hobbies, like snorkeling, and his ability to maintain a normal lifestyle.
