Legal Malpractice

"Firestorn" in Legal Malpractice

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

Here, in a story from Atlanta from the Augusta Chronicle is the story of an Atlanta law firm that has a multiple number of legal malpractice cases facing it.  One in particular, Jennifer v. Fleming the jury will be permitted to hear about an additional 22 cases.  Two  things stand out in this case:

a.  Defendants cannot call attorney experts to denigrate plaintiff's underlying Personal Injury matter;

b. The jury may hear of 22 unrelated legal malpractice cases too.

"On Thursday, U.S. District Magistrate Judge W. Leon Barfield framed what a federal court jury will hear in April when the civil lawsuit Wendell A. Jenifer filed against the Fleming firm, John Fleming and Williams Fleming goes to trial.

"I have come to the conclusion ... that much of the insurance evidence proffered by the plaintiffs in this case is admissible," Judge Barfield said.

In 2002, Fleming attorney Richard Ingram contacted the firm's insurance company about the possibility of 22 malpractice claims against the firm. In documents the jury will see, unless another judge rules differently at trial, Mr. Ingram lays the blame at the feet of John Fleming and his nephew William.

Judge Barfield said Thursday it is plausible that the Fleming firm found itself in "a firestorm" in 2002. The insurance company canceled the firm's policy, and it was re-instated only when John and William Fleming resigned. John Fleming returned a month later.

It is plausible, Judge Barfield said, that the firm's attorneys realized that any claim Mr. Jenifer might file would not be covered by the insurance. The evidence about the other insurance claims is relevant because the firm admitted to wrongdoing until it came to Mr. Jenifer's case, the judge said.

The judge ruled the defendants cannot call other attorneys as witnesses to give opinions about the merits of Mr. Jenifer's case against the hotel. That will be a decision the jury must make in determining whether there was legal malpractice, Judge Barfield said.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on February 29, 2008 (boomark / email).