Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the defendant's motion is denied, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for a hearing in accordance herewith.
"It is well settled that an attorney who has been discharged by his client without cause may invoke a retaining lien on the client's papers and files in his [or her] possession. The attorney may generally not be compelled to surrender the files until an expedited hearing has been held to ascertain the amount of his [or her] fees" (Andreiev v. Keller, 168 A.D.2d 528; Corby v. Citibank, 143 A.D.2d 587; Mint Factors v. Cedar Tide Corp., 133 A.D.2d 222). "An attorney's retaining lien must be respected" (Andreiev v. Keller, supra, at 528; Artim v. Artim, 109 A.D.2d 811).
In this case, no exigent circumstances were established to support the court's order which directed the release of the defendant's files before a hearing was conducted (cf., Rosen v Rosen, 97 A.D.2d 837). Sullivan, J.P., Lawrence, Pizzuto and Joy, JJ., concur.