Chapter 18 - § 18.9 • ATTORNEY'S CHARGING LIEN

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 18.9 • ATTORNEY'S CHARGING LIEN

Sometimes, the problem is not obtaining attorney fees from the opposing party, but collecting fees from the attorney's own client. For that situation, the Colorado statutes provide for an attorney's lien. The attorney's charging lien statute, C.R.S. § 12-5-119 states that attorneys "shall have a lien on any money, property, choses in action, or claims and demands in their hands, on any judgment they may have obtained or assisted in obtaining, in whole or in part, and on any and all claims and demands in suit for any fees or balance of fees due or to become due from any client." When an attorney files an attorney's lien with the clerk of the court, it is "notice to all persons and to all parties, including the judgment creditor, to all persons in the case against whom a demand exists, and to all persons claiming by, through, or under any person having a demand in suit or have obtained a judgment."⁷⁵ If an attorney's work has increased the value of the client's real property, the lien attaches to that property.⁷⁶ No Colorado cases construe this apparent conflict between the recording act and the attorney's lien statute.⁷⁷

The statute provides that an attorney shall have a lien on money, property, claims, and demands in the attorney's hands as well as on any judgment the attorney may have obtained. The easy case is a situation where the attorney obtains a money judgment on behalf of a client against an opposing party. The attorney, if he or she has not been paid, can then file a notice of attorney's lien in the court file in the case in which he or she obtained the judgment. But what if the judgment was a decree quieting title to the piece of real property in favor of the client? The early case of Fillmore v. Wells⁷⁸ considers just that question. In Fillmore, the court determined that there was no practical difference between a judgment for money and a judgment awarding ownership or possession of land to the attorney's client. Thus, when the "fruits" of the attorney's work are the client's interests in the real property, the statute provides that immediately upon obtaining the judgment, the attorney's lien attaches to the client's interest in that real estate. As between the attorney and client, nothing further need be done.

However, what about notice to third parties? The charging lien statute states that filing the notice of lien in the court file is "notice to all persons." However, the recording act⁷⁹ requires a party...