Felger v. Nichols
Maryland Court of Special Appeals
370 A.2d 141 (1977)
- Written by DeAnna Swearingen, LLM
Facts
Milton R. Felger (plaintiff) hired Zane G. Nichols (defendant) to represent him in a divorce. A dispute arose, and Felger refused to pay $345 in legal fees. Nichols sued Felger in the District Court of Maryland on June 21, 1974 to recover the $345. At trial, Felger argued that the fees were unreasonable, because Nichols’s services were unsatisfactory. The court found in favor of Nichols. In a separate action, Felger filed suit against Nichols for legal malpractice. Nichols filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that the earlier trial court had considered Felger’s malpractice claims and found in Nichols’s favor. Thus, Nichols argued that Felger was collaterally estopped from raising the malpractice claim in the second lawsuit. Felger argued that he was not permitted to litigate the malpractice issue in the previous case due to the jurisdictional limits of the first court and the judge’s error sustaining a single objection. Summary judgment was entered in Nichols’s favor. Felger appealed to the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Davidson, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 798,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.