A Hinton couple has appealed a judge’s order to pay their lawyer $2.18 million more for representing them in their traffic accident claim that resulted in a $7.5 million settlement with the City of Sioux City.
Chad and Rosanne Plante filed notice of the appeal last week.
District Judge Nancy Whittenburg ruled in March that attorney Stan Munger’s contingency fee contract with the Plantes was “reasonable and valid.”
She ruled that Munger was entitled to receive 33 percent of the settlement the city paid the Plantes to resolve claims from a 2016 bus crash that caused serious injuries to Chad Plante.
Court documents showed that was the figure the Plante’s agreed to when they hired Munger.
But since the settlement the Plantes had only authorized Munger to withdraw on$380,000 from the fund, arguing that the contingency fee agreement was “against public policy.”
