Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, and O'neill, Lysaght & Sun v. Robert Allan Ferrante

This is an appeal from the district court’s order denying a motion by O’Neill, Lysaght and Sun LLP (“OLS”) for adjudication of attorney fees and enforcement of attorney liens. The district court determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. We have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The underlying facts, although somewhat convoluted, are undisputed. OLS were the long-time attorneys for Robert Allan Ferrante. The firm represented him in an action styled Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. v. Ferrante, No. CV 86-03332 MRP (“the FSLIC action”), which was settled in 1990. The settlement agreement provided that the court “shall retain jurisdiction over this Agreement,” but the record does not reflect that the court retained jurisdiction in the order of dismissal. Moreover, the record reflects no provision in the settlement agreement pertaining to attorney fees. In 1993 Fer-rante filed for bankruptcy. At the time, he had fallen substantially behind in payments to OLS. In 1994, Ferrante executed a post-petition promissory note agreeing to pay OLS $2 million on account of the fees he owed. In addition, he signed a…