Rein v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Appellants, Constantine Cannon LLP and Rose Mary Copeland, appeal the district court’s order distributing attorneys’ fees to appellee Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (“SNR”) pursuant to a retainer agreement signed by Rose Mary Copeland and SNR. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts, the proceedings below, and the specification of issues on appeal.

The appellants raise three principal contentions on appeal, two of which relate to the district court’s interpretation of the parties’ retainer agreement. Under New York law, “[t]he threshold question in a dispute over the meaning of a…