In re Sather
Colorado Supreme Court
3 P.3d 403 (2000)
Attorney Larry Sather (defendant) entered a fee agreement with client Franklin Perez under which Perez paid a $20,000 advance fee explicitly labeled nonrefundable regardless of hours worked; Sather failed to keep the funds separate from his own money and spent them before earning the fees, and when his representation ended early (due to an unrelated 30-day suspension), he acknowledged roughly $13,000 remained unearned but took over five months to actually refund it. Perez complained about fees Sather claimed to have earned and the matter went to arbitration, which awarded Perez only his arbitration costs, not recovery of the disputed fees.
Whether advance fees paid by a client to an attorney remain the client's property, subject to refund if excessive or unearned, regardless of a contractual provision labeling them nonrefundable.