Professional Liability (Attorney Malpractice)

We handle important disputes involving attorney professional negligence. Our recent matters have included claims that former counsel failed or refused to advise their clients of the need to settle litigation they were handling; alleged conflicts of interest between the insured client, on the one hand, and the insurance company that hired and paid former counsel, on the other; and/or alleged failures to timely or adequately prosecute the matters for which former counsel was engaged.

Uncommon Illumination: We’re aware that emotional distress damages are typically not available in legal malpractice actions. The “primary rights” or interests at stake in a malpractice (negligence) claim are not the same, however, as those at stake in a claim for breach of fiduciary duty. Claims of malpractice deal only with the client’s economic interest in avoiding a miscarriage of justice. Claims for breach of fiduciary duty deal with the client’s expectation of loyalty. Attorneys who undertake or continue legal representation with a conflicting interest may be said to be in breach of their fiduciary duties. We believe this permits a claim for emotional distress damages in a proper case

Lawyer Inaction Case

The Firm represented a client in a legal malpractice action against the client’s former counsel.  The client obtained $9 million judgment against another company and retained the services of an attorney to pursue the judgment.  However, nothing was done to collect on the judgment for more than 18 months, during which time assets were dissipated.  Issues involved multiple bankruptcies and collection off-shore assets, as well as Directors and Officers liability coverage.  The matter settled confidentially.

Architect “Burning Limits” Case

The Firm represented an architect who had been represented in a construction defect lawsuit by  insurer-provided defense counsel under a “burning limits” professional liability policy [every dollar used for defense means a dollar not available for settlement or judgment].  All other defendants had settled prior to arbitration.  The architect was left with a judgment far in excess of his remaining policy.  In the subsequent litigation against both the insurer for failure to settle when reasonable to do so and the insurer-provided defense counsel for failure to advise of settlement, among other things, defense counsel settled prior to trial.  The insurer settled during trial.