Legal Malpractice

Bad Faith and Legal Malpractice Litigation

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

Attorneys deal with issues that have big numbers attached to them.  Here is a story about an Indiana law firm that got into a big problem. The article does not say how the negotiation went bad, but the end result was that the law firm assigned its bad faith claim against its own insurer to the State, and walked away paying $ 50,000. 

"Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe, an Indianapolis law firm represented the Indiana Construction Industry Trust, which provided health coverage to non-union construction workers before going bust in 2002.

Two years ago, a Marion County jury ordered Fillenwarth Dennerline to pay the insurance department $18 million, concluding it failed to alert the trust's board to mushrooming financial problems.

The verdict--which far exceeded the small law firm's ability to pay--equaled the the amount of unpaid claims owed to 8,000 Hoosiers when the trust collapsed."
 

"A legal malpractice insurance carrier has agreed to pay $16.5 million to Indiana ’s insurance department, settling a federal lawsuit stemming from the multi-million-dollar collapse of a health insurance trust."

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).