[PART IV.
ATTORNEYS]
§507-81 Attorney's lien upon actions and
judgments. (a) An attorney has a lien upon:
(1) Actions, suits, and proceedings after
commencement of the action or arbitration proceeding;
(2) Judgments, decrees, orders, settlements, and
awards entered by the court or an arbitrator in favor of the client; and
(3) Any proceeds paid in satisfaction of the
judgment, decree, order, settlement, or award.
(b) The lien shall be for:
(1) The fees and compensation specifically agreed
upon with the client;
(2) The reasonable value of the services of the
attorney, if there is no fee agreement;
(3) Any costs advanced by the attorney; and
(4) Any fees or commissions taxed or allowed by the
court.
(c) Except for tax liens, prior liens of
record on the real and personal property subject to the lien created by this
section, and as provided in section (d), the attorney's lien is superior to all
other liens.
(d) When the attorney's lien attaches to a
judgment, decree, order, settlement, or award allowing or enforcing a client's
lien, the attorney's lien has the same priority as the client's lien with
regard to personal or real property subject to the client's lien.
(e) The attorney's lien on a judgment, decree,
order, settlement, or award remains valid as long as the judgment, decree,
order, settlement, or award remains valid.
(f) To be enforceable under this section, a
notice of claim of the attorney's lien shall be filed with the court or
arbitrator, as the case may be.
(g) Except as provided by subsections (i) and
(j), the attorney's lien is not affected by a settlement between the parties to
the action, suit, or proceeding before or after the judgment, decree, order, or
award.
(h) Except as provided by subsections (i) and
(j), a party to the action, suit, or proceeding or any other person shall not
have the right to discharge or dismiss any judgment, decree, order, settlement,
or award entered in the action, suit, or proceeding until the lien and claim of
the attorney for fees based thereon is satisfied in full.
(i) A party may pay the full amount of a
judgment, decree, order, settlement, or award into court, and the clerk of the
court shall thereupon fully satisfy the judgment, decree, order, settlement, or
award on the record, and the party shall be thereby released from any further
claims thereunder.
(j) If more than one attorney from the same
firm appears of record for a party, the satisfaction of the lien created by
this section by one of the attorneys is conclusive evidence that the lien is
fully satisfied.
(k) Attorneys have the same right and power
over actions, suits, proceedings, judgments, decrees, orders, settlements, and
awards to enforce their liens as their clients have for the amount due thereon
to them. [L 2004, c 48, §2; am L 2011, c 136, §1]
Case Notes
Where the child support enforcement agency recorded a lien
prior to an attorney's lien established for payment of fees in an unrelated
action, the child support enforcement agency's lien took priority; this section
does not grant attorneys a superior or separate right to their clients'
property over a prior recorded lien. 133 H. 311, 328 P.3d 320 (2014).
Where the child support enforcement agency recorded a lien
prior to an attorney's lien established for payment of fees in an unrelated
action, the circuit court did not violate the attorney's due process rights by
granting priority to the child support enforcement agency's lien. 133 H. 311,
328 P.3d 320 (2014).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
5
cases (
3 in the last 5 years), 2012–2026 · leading case:
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
· cites it 179× “The State also argued that HRS § 507-81, which governs attorney’s liens, provides that an attorney’s lien is established after commencement of the action; thus, because Lopez’s action commenced after the CSEA lien was recorded, the CSEA lien has priority.”
Riethbrock v. Lange., 282 P.3d 543 (Haw. 2012).
· cites it 4× “On December 15, 2005, Riethbrock’s counsel filed a motion to withdraw and for an order to establish an attorney’s lien pursuant to HRS § 507-81. On January 12, 2006, Lange filed an “Ex Parte Motion for an Order Directing [Rieth-broek] to do Everything Within His Power to Have…”
Hasegawa v. Fang (Haw. App. 2026).
· cites it 16× “The Lien Order at issue was not a statutory attorney's lien under HRS § 507-81, for which the Otsuka Attorneys themselves would have had to file a "notice of claim" of an attorney's lien to enforce.”
Marn v. McCully Assocs. (Haw. App. 2026).
· cites it 10× “" Instead, he challenges only the circuit court's determination that a separate party, Sakai Iwanaga, had a valid attorney's lien pursuant to HRS § 507-81. Under these circumstances, we conclude that Ueno lacks standing to challenge the ruling as to Sakai Iwanaga's lien.”
Bowers v. Winquist, 491 P.3d 1191 (Haw. App. 2021).
· cites it 7× “HRS § 507-81 (2018) states, in relevant part: Attorney's lien upon actions and judgments.”
— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-81(a)(2) — 1 case
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
“The State also argued that HRS § 507-81, which governs attorney’s liens, provides that an attorney’s lien is established after commencement of the action; thus, because Lopez’s action commenced after the CSEA lien was recorded, the CSEA lien has priority.”
— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-81(b)(1) — 2 cases
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
“The State also argued that HRS § 507-81, which governs attorney’s liens, provides that an attorney’s lien is established after commencement of the action; thus, because Lopez’s action commenced after the CSEA lien was recorded, the CSEA lien has priority.”
Bowers v. Winquist, 491 P.3d 1191 (Haw. App. 2021).
“HRS § 507-81 (2018) states, in relevant part: Attorney's lien upon actions and judgments.”
— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-81(c) — 1 case
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
“The State also argued that HRS § 507-81, which governs attorney’s liens, provides that an attorney’s lien is established after commencement of the action; thus, because Lopez’s action commenced after the CSEA lien was recorded, the CSEA lien has priority.”
— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-81(e) — 1 case
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
“The State also argued that HRS § 507-81, which governs attorney’s liens, provides that an attorney’s lien is established after commencement of the action; thus, because Lopez’s action commenced after the CSEA lien was recorded, the CSEA lien has priority.”
— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-81(f) — 1 case
Hasegawa v. Fang (Haw. App. 2026).
“The Lien Order at issue was not a statutory attorney's lien under HRS § 507-81, for which the Otsuka Attorneys themselves would have had to file a "notice of claim" of an attorney's lien to enforce.”
— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-81(k) — 1 case
Lopez v. State., 328 P.3d 320 (Haw. 2014).
“The State also argued that HRS § 507-81, which governs attorney’s liens, provides that an attorney’s lien is established after commencement of the action; thus, because Lopez’s action commenced after the CSEA lien was recorded, the CSEA lien has priority.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.