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Question X
X. The spouses Manuel were the registered owners of a parcel of land measuring about 200,000 square meters. On May 4, 2008, the spouses Manuel sold the land for P3,500,000.00 to the spouses Rivera who were issued a certificate of title for said land in their names. Because the spouses Rivera failed to pay the balance of the purchase price for the land, the spouses Manuel, through Atty. Enriquez, instituted an action on March 18, 2010 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) for sum of money and/or annulment of sale, docketed as Civil Case No. 1111. The complaint in Civil Case No. 1111 specifically alleged that Atty. Enriquez would be paid P200,000.00 as attorney's fees on a contingency basis. The RTC subsequently promulgated its decision upholding the sale of the land to the spouses Rivera. Atty. Enriquez timely filed an appeal on behalf of the spouses Manuel before the Court of Appeals. The appellate court found for the spouses Manuel, declared the sale of the land to the spouses Rivera null and void, and ordered the cancellation of the spouses Rivera's certificate of title for the land. The Supreme Court dismissed the spouses Rivera's appeal for lack of merit. With the finality of judgment in Civil Case No. 1111 on October 20, 2014, Atty. Enriquez filed a motion for the issuance of a writ of execution. Meanwhile, the spouses Rivera filed on November 10, 2014 before the RTC a case for quieting of title against the spouses Manuel, docketed as Civil Case No. 2222. The spouses Manuel, again through Atty. Enriquez, filed a motion to dismiss Civil Case No. 2222 on the ground of res judicata given the final judgment in Civil Case No. 1111. Pending the resolution of the motion to dismiss in Civil Case No. 2222, the RTC granted on February 9, 2015 the motion for issuance of a writ of execution in Civil Case No. 1111 and placed the spouses Manuel in possession of the land. Atty. Enriquez, based on a purported oral agreement with the spouses Manuel, laid claim to Y2 of the land, measuring 100,000.00 square meters with market value of Pl,750,000.00, as his attorney's fees. Atty. Enriquez caused the subdivision of the land in two equal portions and entered into the half he appropriated for himself. Based on the professional and ethical standards for lawyers, may Atty. Enriquez claim Yi of the land as his contingency fee? Why? (4%)
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