[A] Colchester attorney who awarded himself one-third of a $1 million settlement without obtaining his long-standing client’s written consent has agreed to pay $575,000 to resolve the years-long case.
A Chittenden County Superior Court jury last October found that Thomas Nuovo had violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act when he failed to inform his client, Robert Parizo, in writing, that he would be taking a contingency fee for representing him in a case stemming from an automobile accident in 2010.
Parizo had been a passenger in a van that collided with a car that had just hit a state snowplow on Interstate 89 south of St. Albans. Parizo, already paralyzed, was “catapulted” out of his wheelchair. His injuries included a broken hip and fractures in both legs.
Nuovo settled the case with Morf Transit and the driver who hit the snowplow for $1 million. Nuovo took one-third, or $330,000, of the settlement.
Parizo said at the time that Nuovo had never made it clear that he was representing him in the accident case on a contingency basis. Nuovo had represented Parizo five years before, when Parizo, a builder, was paralyzed in a fall from a roof. Nuovo had charged Parizo his customary rate of $180 per hour, and when he took on the second case, Parizo said, he never told him the terms would be different.
Following Parizo’s death three years ago from pneumonia, his daughter Liza Barron took on the case against Nuovo.
In a letter to Nuovo in 2014, her attorney, Owen Jenkins, said that, based on an estimate that Nuovo had spent 50 hours on the case, the “value of your services was no more than $10,000.”
The Chittenden Superior civil court jury last October awarded Parizo’s estate $549,000 — the initial fee plus attorney’s fees for Jenkins, plus interest. The amount, with interest, has since grown to more than $630,000.
Both parties appealed the verdict to the state Supreme Court, Nuovo on the basis that the verdict had been improperly reached, Barron on the basis that the fee awarded to Jenkins was insufficient. In a follow-up ruling in February, Judge Robert Mello approved $75,000 in attorney’s fees for Jenkins. Barron’s attorney had requested $244,560.
Under the terms of the settlement reached on Monday, both Barron and Nuovo will drop their appeals to the state’s high court. Nuovo and/or his law partnership Bauer, Gravel and Farnum LLP, will pay $575,000 to Parizo’s estate — with Barron as its representative — by June 15.
Barron said reaching a settlement agreement with Nuovo was a “big moment” for her family.
“To my family it’s always been about doing the right thing and making sure this lawyer who committed the crime is held accountable,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.
“To know that my father is not going to go unheard and that we were still able to advocate for him even after he passed.”
