Benjamin v. Carter, 24-2272-cv

Ronald Benjamin was retained by Rose Carter, administrator of the Estate of Salladin Barton, to pursue claims arising from Barton's death in Broome County jail.
The Estate discharged Benjamin after less than a year, granting him a potential charging lien under N.Y. Judiciary Law § 475.
Carter's new attorney, Elmer Keach, withdrew Benjamin’s initial state court case and instead filed a successful federal action, resulting in a $170,000 settlement, inclusive of $56,667.67 in attorney’s fees.
Benjamin, having not participated in the federal case, was notified of the settlement and asserted a claim for 50% of the attorney’s fees by contacting Broome County but did not formally enforce his lien in court.
The Estate petitioned to disallow Benjamin’s lien, and the district court granted the request, finding Benjamin waived his rights by failing to act.
Benjamin appealed, arguing the district court abused its discretion in finding waiver of his charging lien.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Waiver of Attorney’s Charging Lien	Benjamin did not waive his lien as he made reasonable efforts to enforce it.	Benjamin's inaction and failure to formally enforce his lien amounted to waiver.	Benjamin waived his charging lien through inaction; district court ruling affirmed.

Grace v. Fisher, 355 F.2d 21 (2d Cir. 1966) (sets abuse of discretion review standard for charging lien decisions)
Kaplan v. Reuss, 113 A.D.2d 184 (2d Dep’t 1985), aff’d 68 N.Y.2d 693 (N.Y. 1986) (failure to timely enforce a § 475 lien results in waiver)
Todd v. Mut. Factors, Inc., 3 A.D.2d 537 (1st Dep’t 1957), aff’d 4 N.Y.2d 759 (N.Y. 1958) (long delay in asserting lien waives rights and estops future enforcement)