Lopez v. Muñoz, Hockema & Reed, L.L.P.

joined by Justice HECHT, Justice ENOCH, Justice OWEN, Justice BAKER, Justice ABBOTT, and Justice HANKINSON, and by Chief Justice PHILLIPS and Justice GONZALES as to Parts I and IV.

The contingent fee contract that underlies this dispute allowed the plaintiffs’ law firm to charge an additional five percent fee in the event the case was “appealed to a higher court.” We must decide whether the law firm breached the contract by charging its client the additional fee when the defendant, to preserve its right to appeal, filed a cash deposit in lieu of a cost bond with the trial court shortly before…