Chester Rudnicki v. Issam Ateek, 328130

Chester and Sophie Rudnicki sued neighbors and the City of Sterling Heights over flooding; they retained attorney Ronald E. Reynolds (Vercruysse Murray, PC) in Sept 2012 and sued in July 2013.
Reynolds worked toward a negotiated engineering-based settlement; parties approved a stipulated settlement and the court dismissed the case with prejudice in June 2014 after Reynolds had moved to withdraw at the Rudnickis’ request.
Vercruysse Murray’s billing statements documented $28,804.37 in fees (116.7 hours for Reynolds at $225/hr, paralegal time, costs); the Rudnickis paid $16,728.71 leaving a $12,075.66 balance; the firm asserted a charging lien on settlement proceeds.
The Rudnickis refused to endorse settlement checks and challenged the fees as vague, excessive, and in breach of the fee agreement (disputing paralegal rate, free initial 10 hours, and billing detail), and requested an evidentiary hearing on fee reasonableness.
The trial court reviewed the fee agreement, detailed billing statements, and Reynolds’ affidavit, heard argument, and enforced the charging lien but reduced the award to $9,000 without holding a separate evidentiary hearing.

Issue	Rudnickis’ Argument	Vercruysse Murray’s Argument	Held
Whether the court abused its discretion by denying an evidentiary hearing on the charging lien / fee reasonableness	Court must hold evidentiary hearing when fees are contested to determine services rendered and reasonableness	Court had sufficient documentary record (fee agreement, detailed bills, affidavit) and heard objections at the motion hearing; hearing not required	No abuse of discretion; court may decide on record when evidence suffices and it explained its reasoning

Souden v. Souden, 303 Mich. App. 406 (discussion of charging lien and fee-reasonableness principles)
John J. Fannon Co. v. Fannon Products, LLC, 269 Mich. App. 162 (trial court discretion on evidentiary hearing when record suffices)
George v. Sandor M. Gelman, P.C., 201 Mich. App. 474 (definition of charging lien)
Plunkett & Cooney, P.C. v. Capitol Bancorp, 212 Mich. App. 325 (attorney-client relationship and contractual basis for fees)
Reed v. Reed, 265 Mich. App. 131 (generally requiring hearing when requested and fees contested)
Head Philips Camper Sales & Rental, Inc. v. 234 Mich. App. 94 (no hearing required if record adequate and court explains ruling)
Wood v. Detroit Auto Inter-Ins. Exch., 413 Mich. 573 (factors for assessing reasonableness of attorney fees)