New York Lawyers Defend 9/11 Widows

A widow who was being taken advantage of sought help from Simmons, Jannace & Stagg . She needed someone to protect her against an attorney who tried to charge a $2,000,000 contingency fee. This lawyer filed suit in federal court seeking a declaratory judgment entitling him to his fee.
Simmons, Jannace & Stagg responded with a clever case that challenged the Federal court's actions, entreating them to stay out of the problem. The federal court, after hearing argument, agreed that the Victims Compensation Fund did not provide federal court jurisdiction.

Simmons, Jannace & Stagg moved to discharge the federal action. They argued that the Victims Compensation Fund was not under federal jurisdiction. They argued that no reported case upheld jurisdiction under the Fund where the issue concerned a private disagreement involving an attorney and his former client. Simmons, Jannace & Stagg stated that there was no reported case upholding such an inflated fee for representation before the Victims Compensation Fund. They argued that the federal court should stay out of the case, because the state's Surrogate’s Court had begun an inquiry.
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