Legal Malpractice

Purolite Legal Malpractice Case and Statute of Limitations

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

Purolite hired defendant law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius for advice on whether they could sell products to Cuba.  The law firm gave advice, Purolite came under criminal investigation, and a law suit was born. NY Lawyer reports

"Both sides said Morgan Lewis' original advice in 1993 was for the company to stop all sales to Cuba and a memorandum was sent to all employees to that effect. When two Purolite sales people from Canada and the United Kingdom called to say such a move would put them in violation of their respective countries' blocking orders, Morgan Lewis advised Purolite days later to continue to sell to Cuba from foreign offices but to ensure that there was no U.S. involvement with those sales, Purolite's attorney told the jury."

Now, it seems the central issue at the trial of this case is the statute of limitations.  When did Purolite realize it had a legal malpractice cause of action?  "After more than two weeks of testimony and years of previous litigation, the $20 million case that pits water filtration company Purolite against its former law firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, could come down to the first question on the verdict sheet – whether the case is barred by the statute of limitations.

Although attorneys for both sides in Bro-Tech v. Morgan Lewis spent the majority of yesterday morning's closing statements discussing whether Purolite and its owners, Stefan and Don Brodie, should prevail in their breach of contract claim against the firm, they concluded with discussions of whether the claim was properly filed within the four-year statute of limitations. Bro-Tech is the parent company of Purolite ."

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on February 01, 2008 (boomark / email).