On January 7, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in Seibel v. Scarola Zubatov Schaffin PLLC, 2025 NY Slip Op. 00067, enforcing an engagement letter provision allowing counsel to withdraw if the client did not cooperate with counsel, explaining:
SZS was properly granted summary judgment based on Seibel’s breach of the parties’ retainer agreement. The retainer agreement called for a retainer and installment payments from Seibel totaling $500,000 as a cap through discovery and summary judgment (if any). The retainer agreement further provided that either party could terminate the relationship at any time, with SZS having the right to terminate its services if Seibel failed to cooperate with a reasonable request, or if SZS determines, in its sole discretion, that continuing services to Seibel would be unethical, impractical, improper or otherwise inappropriate. Several circumstances warranted SZS’s discontinuation of its representation of Seibel, including: the breach of Seibel’s duty to be truthful about certain kickbacks and his supposed disassociation from agreements with Caesars Enterprises Inc.; Seibel’s refusal to cooperate with SZS’s reasonable request that he produce his prenuptial agreement to Caesars; and the impracticability of continuing the representation due to Seibel’s failure to pay key vendors and expert witnesses and because of Bennett’s untimely death.
Furthermore, SZS demonstrated that it had grounds to discontinue its services without refunding Seibel’s fees. Seibel failed to object to the billing, which exceeded the $500,000 cap, and admitted that he paid that amount, thereby waiving any right he may have had to insist that SZS either continue representation or refund a portion of its fees.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).