Brown

This case raises the question of how and where a conflict between a creditor claiming a judgment lien under Code of Civil Procedure section 708.410 et seq. (sometimes the judgment lien statutes) and an attorney claiming a contractual lien on the proceeds of the same judgment is to be resolved. Specifically, can an attorney lien claimant, over the objection of the judgment creditor, appear in the client’s underlying action for the limited purpose of asserting his or her contractual lien and contesting the creditor’s judgment lien? We conclude the answer to that question is “no,” even if there is no dispute between the attorney and the client as to the validity or amount of the attorney lien. In the face of an objection by any party—including a judgment creditor in a judgment lien enforcement proceeding under section 708.470—the validity and amount of the attorney contractual lien can be established only in a separate action.

This does not mean, however, that a creditor with a judgment lien can defeat the potentially senior contractual lien of an attorney simply by filing an application for satisfaction of his or her judgment lien under section 708.470 before the attorney…