Legal Updates for Lawyers’ Professional Liability – August 2023

Legal Update for Lawyers’ Professional Liability - RESULTS & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RESULTS*

Aaron Moore (Philadelphia, PA & Wilmington, DE) obtained a unanimous jury verdict in favor of our clients, a lawyer and his law firm in a legal malpractice case arising out of the lawyer’s drafting of a postnuptial agreement. The postnuptial agreement was invalidated by a family court judge, causing the husband to lose approximately $1.2 million as part of a subsequent property separation agreement. The jury considered testimony from the plaintiff’s ex-wife which reflected that she had signed the agreement under duress, and concluded that the plaintiff could not demonstrate that the postnuptial agreement was invalidated as a result of anything the lawyer did.

Aaron Moore (Philadelphia, PA & Wilmington, DE) and Alesia Sulock (Philadelphia, PA) obtained a unanimous defense jury verdict in Philadelphia on a legal malpractice claim. The plaintiffs had hired our attorney client to represent them in a property damage case against contractors and an insurance company after, as they claimed, the roof of their property was left open and water damage was sustained. The plaintiffs argued that their attorney failed to faithfully represent them and caused them to lose their claims against the contractors. After a week-long trial, we successfully proved that our attorney client did not cause the plaintiffs to lose the underlying claims, and we obtained a unanimous defense verdict in favor of the attorney defendant and his law firm.

Scott Eberle (Pittsburgh, PA) obtained summary judgment on an alleged fraud case arising out of the sale of an oil and gas lease. The District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted the motion for summary judgment on the statute of limitations. 

Michele Frisbie (King of Prussia, PA) obtained a transfer and dismissal, with prejudice, on a motion to dismiss in a legal malpractice action. Michele argued that the plaintiff’s claim that her daughter’s court-appointed guardian ad litem’s negligence led to the award of custody to the father following a dependency hearing. The custody award, the plaintiff alleged, put her at a disadvantage in the divorce and damaged her and the child. First, Michele successfully argued for the transfer of the matter from the county of the mother’s residence to the county of the dependency hearing. She then successfully argued that the plaintiff had no right to bring a cause of action for herself or the child.

Josh Byrne (Philadelphia, PA) successfully handled the following matters:

  • Finding for defendants in an arbitration involving a wrongful use of civil proceedings claim arising out of an underlying wrongful use of civil proceedings claim, which, in turn, arose out of an alleged copyright violation.
  • Received dismissal of a disciplinary complaint in a matter involving alleged conflicts of interest and an alleged failure by an attorney to explain the relationship between two attorneys in the matter.
  • Representing a prominent Philadelphia criminal defense firm in a legal malpractice action, Josh had preliminary objections sustained and the legal malpractice complaint dismissed with prejudice in Lehigh County. The court sustained Josh’s preliminary objections on the basis that the plaintiff’s breach of contract claim was barred by the gist of the action doctrine and the statute of limitations had expired on any potential negligence claim.
  • The Superior Court affirmed an order of the trial court sustaining preliminary objections. Josh successfully argued that the wrongful use of civil proceedings claim (Dragonetti), which arose out of an underlying wrongful use of civil proceedings claim, was barred as a matter of law by the applicable statute of limitations.
  • Josh was part of a multi-state team of lawyers who participated in a three-day bench trial in Arapahoe County, Colorado, and successfully argued that an underlying client had the capacity to execute a retention agreement with a forum selection clause requiring any legal malpractice action be brought in Pennsylvania. The legal malpractice claims alleged multimillions of dollars of damages and involved representation of a billionaire oil investor who had been involved in a multiyear battle with his family over control of his businesses. An order and opinion enforcing the forum selection clause was entered on March 17, 2023. Enforcement of the forum selection clause effectively bars the legal malpractice claims due to the operation of the statute of limitations.
  • Achieved an informal admonition, the lowest form of discipline which is non-public, for his client in a matter that involved alleged failures to appropriately represent clients and timely file appeals in six different criminal matters.
  • Received a dismissal of a disciplinary complaint for his client in a matter involving allegations of failures to communicate with clients and prosecute a case over a six-year period. The letter requesting information from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel was 99 paragraphs long, the response took 106 single-spaced pages with 176 exhibits.
  • Achieved dismissal of a 99-paragraph disciplinary complaint that alleged lack of communications with clients over the course of a 12-year-long underlying matter. The response to the disciplinary complaint was over 100 single-spaced pages setting forth the details of the underlying matter and included more than 150 exhibits.

Nicholas Chrysanthem (New York, NY) was successful on a pre-answer motion to dismiss with respect to four of five causes of action relating to fraud and intentional misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, fraudulent concealment and piercing the corporate veil.

Nicholas Chrysanthem (New York, NY) and Tim Raveica (Melville, NY) were successful in convincing the judge to dismiss the complaint against their client on a pre-answer motion based on the statute of limitations.

Jack Slimm (Mount Laurel, NJ) and Jeremy Zacharias (Mount Laurel, NJ) were successful on pretrial motions in obtaining orders in the Superior Court Burlington County, striking the plaintiff’s expert reports and barring the plaintiff’s liability and damages experts from testifying at trial in a complex legal malpractice case. This matter, where the damages exceeded $1 million, arose out of the plaintiff’s alleged wrongful termination by his employer. The case had resulted in two trials, an appeal and a remand. The plaintiff holds an MBA from Harvard and claimed that, as a result of the termination, he was unable to market and sell his intellectual property.

Scott Eberle (Pittsburgh, PA) won summary judgment on behalf of a law firm in an alleged fraud case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The case arose out the firm’s representation of a party to the sale of an oil and gas lease in McKean County, Pennsylvania. The court ruled that the plaintiff’s action was time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations based upon the plaintiff’s principal’s deposition testimony regarding the plaintiff’s knowledge of the alleged harm. The court applied the “sham affidavit” doctrine to disregard the plaintiff’s subsequent contradictory affidavits.

*Prior Results Do Not Guarantee a Similar Outcome
 

 

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

On June 6, 2023, Scott Eberle (Pittsburgh, PA) and Alesia Sulock (Philadelphia, PA) presented on a panel discussion, “Avoiding Legal Malpractice,” on behalf of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and in connection with the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. The presentation was a live broadcast to several hundred attorneys across Pennsylvania.

Josh Byrne (Philadelphia, PA) spoke to the Monroe County Bar Association on June 15, 2023, on legal malpractice avoidance.

Scott Eberle (Pittsburgh, PA) spoke to the Westmoreland County Bar Association on June 16th on legal malpractice avoidance. 

Alesia Sulock (Philadelphia, PA) spoke to a law firm client on legal malpractice avoidance on June 20, 2023.

Jack Slimm (Mount Laurel, NJ) spoke at the Camden County Bar Association webinar “Mediation Process & Techniques in Civil & Chancery Disputes: Producing the Best Results for Your Client.”
 

 

Legal Update for Lawyers’ Professional Liability – August 2023 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. We would be pleased to provide such legal assistance as you require on these and other subjects when called upon. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING pursuant to New York RPC 7.1 Copyright © 2023 Marshall Dennehey, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm. For reprints or inquiries, or if you wish to be removed from this mailing list, contact tamontemuro@mdwcg.com.