The Court enforced an equitable fruits of action lien in favour of the plaintiff's former solicitors against settlement proceeds held by the defendant, where the former solicitors had given notice of the lien to the defendant's solicitor before the deed of release was executed, and where the former solicitors' extensive pre-hearing work was causally linked to the settlement outcome. The Court found that a release signed by the former solicitors was procured by misleading conduct — specifically, the defendant's solicitor's incorrect representation to the Court that there were 'no fruits of litigation' when $185,000 was payable under the deed — and was readily set aside. The gross sum of the lien was fixed at $24,000 under Civil Procedure Act 2005, s 98(4)(c), with the question of potential personal liability of the defendant's solicitor left open but not determined.
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