Lawrence Hess v. Kanoski & Associat

WOOD, Circuit Judge.

This case involves a spat over attorneys’ fees — in particular, the fees that the firm of Kanoski & Associates allegedly owes to its former associate, Lawrence Hess. After some five years at the firm, Hess was abruptly dismissed. Afterwards, the firm settled several of the cases on which Hess had been working and refused to pay Hess bonuses or fees based on those settlements. Hess believes that he is entitled to some of that money. He first tried to obtain the payments by filing attorney’s liens in Illinois state courts. When that strategy failed, he filed this action in…