(a) In any action for damages for personal injury or death, whether based on tort or contract law, or otherwise, no attorney representing any party to such action shall contract for, or charge or collect on a contingent fee basis any fee for his services for such party in excess of the following limits: (1) Fifty percent (50%) on the first One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) recovered; (2) Forty percent (40%) on the next Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) recovered; (3) Thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) on the next Forty-seven Thousand Dollars ($47,000.00) recovered; (4) Twenty percent (20%) on the next Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) recovered; (5) Ten percent (10%) on any amount recovered over One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00); and (6) Where the amount recovered is for the benefit of an infant or incompetent and the action is settled without trial the foregoing limits shall apply, except that the fee on any amount recovered up to Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%). (b) No attorney shall enter into such contingent fee arrangement with his client without first advising the client of this right and affording the client an opportunity to retain the attorney under an arrangement whereby the attorney would be compensated on the basis of the reasonable value of his services.
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(c) Such contingent legal fee shall be computed on the net sum recovered by the client after deducting disbursements made in connection with the institution and prosecution of the client's claim and litigation. (d) The contingent legal fee within the permissible maximum limits shall include legal services rendered on any appeal or review or on any retrial, but this shall not be deemed to require an attorney to take an appeal. (e) If, at the conclusion of any such action for damages, an attorney considers that the contingent fee within such maximum limits to be insufficient, he may apply to the court, with written notice to the client, for an increase in the fee, which the court after a hearing may grant in such amount, if any, as is deemed reasonable in all of the circumstances. (f) In all cases not included within the scope of subsection (a) of this section alone, the measure and mode of compensation of attorneys and counselors at law is left to the agreement, expressed or implied, of the parties. (g) Parties to actions or proceedings are entitled to costs and disbursements, as hereinafter provided. SOURCE: CCP § 1021 repealed and reenacted by P.L. 13-116:2 (12/13/75). CROSS-REFERENCES: 7 GCA 9A, Article 2, as amended. This article contains the requirement for written retainers, in addition to other matters. See also Rule 1.5, Guam Rules of Professional Conduct [for Attorneys], 7 GCA Appendix.