Brown v. McGoldrick: CT Lawyer Fee Dispute Verdict

Case Background

A disagreement between two Connecticut lawyers over a client referral fee led to a courtroom showdown that exposed tensions in how attorneys share cases. Donald M. Brown, an experienced attorney from Avon, sued Jill M. McGoldrick and her Milford-based law firm after she allegedly failed to pay him for handing over a personal injury client. The dispute centered on a verbal agreement that Brown said entitled him to a cut of the settlement, but McGoldrick disputed the deal's terms. The case dragged through the state's Superior Court for years, shining a light on the unwritten rules of professional referrals among lawyers.

Cause

The trouble started in April 2018 when a man named Scott Cascella, who suffered a serious injury, hired Brown to handle his personal injury claim. Brown met Cascella in the hospital, signed a contingency fee agreement for one-third of any recovery, and began gathering records. Soon after, McGoldrick's office reached out, saying she met with Cascella and planned to take the case. Brown claimed her team knew Cascella already had a lawyer but pushed ahead anyway. According to Brown, McGoldrick's staff verbally promised him a one-third referral fee from their eventual settlement. Emails confirmed the handover of files, with no objections to the fee split. McGoldrick later settled the case, but Brown said she ignored his demands for payment, leading to what he called evasive