Legal Malpractice

Legal Malpractice Litigation in Every Sphere

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

Perez Hilton, DJ Samantha and Legal Malpractice.  If any further evidence on the ubiquitous nature of legal malpractice was needed, this story seals the issue.  In the high stakes celebrity gossip blogworld, the DJ sued the Blogger Perez and lost.  The DJ promptly was sued by her attorney Martin Garbus and sued him for legal malpractice.  Here are the interim results:

"DJ Samantha Ronson has accused her former lawyer of threatening her with bad press in a malpractice lawsuit over outstanding legal fees.

Ronson is suing former attorney Martin Garbus, blaming him for losing her defamation case against celebrity blogger Perez Hilton last November.

The case against Hilton was in relation to the blogger's posts about Ronson's gal pal, actress Lindsay Lohan. He alleged on his website that Lohan's driving under the influence (DUI) arrest in May 2007 was a photo opportunity staged for the paparazzi by Ronson, who he claims was also in possession of cocaine found in the car.

The case was thrown out of court and Ronson was ordered to pay Hilton almost US$85,000.

But Ronson claims it was Garbus' failure to discredit Hilton's allegations that lost her the case.

According to court documents obtained by the New York Daily News, Garbus allegedly threatened to sue Ronson for breach of contract and leak details of her outstanding legal fees - amounting to US$100,000 for two months' work - to the press if she didn't pay up.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).