Trial court erred in consolidating plaintiff’s malpractice action with declaration suit, which deprived plaintiff of chosen forum.
The plaintiff and her husband were involved in a car accident in which her husband was fatally injured. The plaintiff’s attorneys in the subsequent personal injury suit advised the plaintiff to enter into a November 4, 2010, revised fee agreement wherein the plaintiff’s attorneys agreed to reduce their contingent fee arrangement by .333%. the plaintiff agreed that her consortium claim was worth the amount of the fee reduction (i.e, .333% of any personal injury recovery), and she agreed that her husband’s proceeds were his separate property. The plaintiff filed a malpractice action against the attorneys in Allegheny County, and the attorneys filed a declaration action in Butler County. The attorneys alleged that the plaintiff was asserting that the November 4, 2010, fee agreement was invalid and unenforceable. The trial court consolidated the actions in Butler County. The Superior Court held that the consolidation was improper because the plaintiff never asserted that the November 4, 2010, fee agreement was void; rather, the plaintiff alleged her attorneys committed malpractice by advising her to enter into the agreement. The Superior Court further held that the attorneys’ declaration action was a ploy designed to deprive the plaintiff of her chosen forum.
Case Law Alert, 1st Quarter 2014