Opinion
No. 60-649.
May 1, 1961. Rehearing Denied May 19, 1961.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Irving Cypen, J.
Carvajal Davis, Miami, for appellant.
Franks Gordon, Miami, for appellees.
The plaintiff, an attorney, appeals a judgment dismissing his complaint for the enforcement of a lien claimed under § 85.09, Fla. Stat., F.S.A. The only question is whether § 85.09, supra, provides a lien for the services of attorneys. In Florida, as in most states, a lawyer has a retaining lien upon papers in his hands and according to the circumstances, a charging or equitable lien on recoveries obtained for a client in the suit for the services in which the charge is made. Chancey v. Bauer, 5 Cir., 1938, 97 F.2d 293, 294; Billingham v. Thiele, Fla. App. 1958, 107 So.2d 238, 243.
It was expressly held in Nichols v. Kroelinger, Fla. 1950, 46 So.2d 722, 724, "under the common law his [attorney's] lien attached to the judgment and since we have no statute in this State modifying or repealing the common law or protecting the lien, the common law is still in effect, * * *". Section 85.09, supra, became a law in Florida many years prior to the decision in the last-cited case. It has therefore been determined that this statute does not apply to or create an additional attorney's lien.
Affirmed.
HORTON, C.J., and PEARSON and CARROLL, CHAS., JJ., concur.