Articles Posted in Bad Deals

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In Bei Yang v. Pagan Law Firm, PC, 2022 NY Slip Op 31007(U) Supreme Court, New York County, the plaintiff hired the lawyer for a medical malpractice case. That case settled for $1.3 million. Plaintiff then sued the lawyer for legal malpractice. Plaintiff alleged that the lawyer coerced him into accepting the settlement. The court dismissed the legal malpractice action because the plaintiff could not prove he would have recovered more than $1.3 million had he gone to trial.

The reasoning:

“Plaintiff’s own expert does not dispute Mr. Zuller’s opinion that the action would be risky to try and that a trial may have resulted in a defense verdict or a verdict lower than the settlement amount. In his affirmation, Mr. Bower states:

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This case, KLIGER-WEISS INFOSYSTEMS, INC., Respondent, v. RUSKIN MOSCOU FALTISCHEK, P.C., Appellant. 2015-06404, Index No. 606457/14., 2018 NY Slip Op 01456, was recently decided by the New York Appellate Division. KWI sued its former lawyers for legal malpractice for failing to include a so-called “evergreen” provision in a settlement agreement in an underlying software licensing dispute. The evergreen provision would have renewed the agreement every year. The explanation:

In 2001, the plaintiff, Kliger-Weiss Infosystems, Inc. (hereinafter KWI), entered into an agreement (hereinafter the 2001 agreement) to license and market certain software from STS Systems, LTD, a predecessor in interest to Epicor Retail Solutions Corporation (hereinafter Epicor). In relevant part, the 2001 agreement contained a provision providing for automatic one-year renewals of the 2001 agreement (hereinafter the evergreen provision). In 2004, Epicor’s predecessor in interest commenced an action against KWI and others in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (hereinafter the federal action) seeking, inter alia, to terminate the 2001 agreement due to alleged breaches by KWI. In early 2007, KWI retained the defendant to negotiate a settlement of the federal action, which resulted in a settlement agreement (hereinafter the 2007 settlement agreement). KWI alleges that it instructed the defendant to incorporate the evergreen provision into the 2007 settlement agreement, but that the defendant, unbeknownst to KWI, failed to do so.

In 2011, Epicor commenced an arbitration proceeding against KWI seeking to terminate the 2007 settlement agreement due to KWI’s alleged uncured breaches. The defendant represented KWI in the arbitration, which resulted in a 2013 determination that the 2007 settlement agreement did not contain an evergreen provision.

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This is a decision of the Nebraska Court of Appeals reinstating a legal malpractice claim against a personal injury attorney even though the underlying case was settled.

The defendant attorney urged the client to accept a $45,000 settlement of a personal injury claim arising out of an auto accident. The plaintiff agreed to the proposed settlement, but then sued the lawyer for legal malpractice. The basis of her claim was essentially that the settlement was inadequate because she had suffered serious permanent injuries requiring medical expenses far exceeding the amount of the settlement.

The court explained:

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This is a legal malpractice case arising out of a divorce case. Plaintiff alleged that her ex-husband concealed assets during the divorce case and that her lawyers were negligent in failing to discover those assets. The lawyer defendants moved to dismiss the case, but the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York reversed and ordered that the case be dismissed.

Reasoning: The court recited the elements for a legal malpractice case (a) duty; (b) breach of duty; (c) proximate causation (that the plaintiff suffered a loss caused by the lawyer’s conduct) and (d) ascertainable damages. In the case of a settlement of the underlying case, the plaintiff must prove that the settlement of the action was effectively compelled by the lawyer’s action.

In this case, the court held that there was no proof that the plaintiff was compelled to enter into the settlement by the lawyer’s actions because the plaintiff was aware, before she settled, that her husband had concealed assets. The court explained: “Here, to the extent that the complaint asserted that the appellants were negligent in failing to ascertain the full extent of the assets of the plaintiff’s former husband, it failed to sufficiently allege that the stipulation of settlement entered into was effectively compelled by the mistakes of counsel, since the plaintiff acknowledged that she elected to enter into the settlement agreement even though she was aware that her former husband had not fully disclosed his assets.”

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SILVAGNI v. Shorr, 2015 PA Super 62 – Pa: Superior Court 2015 – Google Scholar.

This is a Pennsylvania decision affirming the dismissal of a legal malpractice case. The plaintiff alleged that his lawyer breached the duty of care by advising him to settle his workers’ compensation matter. Plaintiff also claimed that the lawyers gave him incorrect legal advice. But for that incorrect legal advice he would not have settled the case.

In the practice area, this is known as a bad deal case. Plaintiff agrees to settle a case and then regrets the settlement or believes that the settlement amount was too low. The complaint frequently contains an allegation that the lawyer pressured the client into the settlement.

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