Published on:

By

YCB INTERNATIONAL, INC. v. UCF TRADING CO., LTD., Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2014 – Google Scholar.

This is an opinion by Judge Holderman who held that a judgment creditor cannot force a judgment debtor to assign a potential legal malpractice claim to the creditor. Here, upon obtaining the judgment YCB asked UCF to assign to YCB any legal malpractice claims against UCF’s former counsel, Schopf & Weiss. This is a potentially ugly result for the lawyers, who defended their client before they withdrew, only to risk being thrown to the wolves to fund a settlement. Judge Holderman rejected the proposed assignment.

While Illinois law allows the assignment of a claim held by the debtor, it does not allow the assignment of a potential or unasserted claim. The court explained that under Illinois law permits assignments of claims.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

The case is captioned Ferris, Thompson & Zweig, Ltd., 2014 IL App (2d) 130129. The plaintiff law firm entered into a written agreement with the defendant, another lawyer, under which two workers’ compensation cases were referred to defendant’s law firm. Under the agreement, plaintiff was to receive 45% of the legal fees recovered in the cases with the defendant receiving the remaining 55%.

When the cases concluded, the defendant did not pay the plaintiff law firm and the plaintiff filed a breach of contract action. The defendant argued that the plaintiff should have brought the case before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission and not in the circuit. The trial court rejected this claim and entered a monetary judgment for breach of contract. The Appellate Court, in a written opinion dated February 5, 2014, affirmed in all respects.

The Appellate Court construed the Worker’s Compensation Act and held that the Commission has the authority to resolve questions relating to the amount of the fee award, but did not have exclusive jurisdiction over the referral fee dispute.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

Cabrera v Collazo 2014 NY Slip Op 00622.

This is an opinion of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. The facts were simple. The attorney missed the applicable statute of limitations and the client’s claim was barred. In such cases, the lawyer is liable for legal malpractice if the client can prove that, but for the attorney’s error, he would have won the underlying case.

Here, the lawyer’s estate raised an unusual defense. The attorney defendant passed away before the statute of limitations on the client’s claim ran. The lawyer’s estate is really making this argument: the lawyer passed away while the client’s claim was still viable, therefore, the client could have chosen another lawyer and filed the claim in timely fashion.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

In Frechtman v. Gutterman, 2014 NY Slip Op 00437, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, a lawyer received an irate letter from his client in which his services were terminated. The lawyer sought to sue for defamation. The trial court dismissed the defamation case and the Appellate Division affirmed.

The letter contained the following statements: “We do not believe you adequately represented our interest,” “We believe your failure to act in our best interest in reference to certain matters upon first engaging in the matter may equate to misconduct, malpractice, and negligence,” “We believe that your future representation on this matter only became necessary, as a result of mistakes and oversights made by you acting as counsel,” and “[w]e believe that we should not pay for the value of services for which any misconduct or counsel oversight relates to the representation for which fees are sought.”

The trial court held that the statements above were merely statements of opinion, not statements of fact, and, thus, were not actionable. The court found the use of the phrase “we believe” significant. The court further held that statements by a client discharging a lawyer are absolutely privileged.  Finally, the court also held that a qualified privilege would apply and that the plaintiff did not allege malice sufficient to overcome the privilege.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE.

A lawyer, Betty Tsamis, and the ARDC have agreed to a reprimand to settle a disciplinary complaint. There were two counts in the complaint. Count I alleged that Tsamis inadvertently converted settlement funds because of poor bookkeeping practices.  Count II gathered news attention. Count II alleged that Tsamis violated client confidentiality in responding to a negative review on the Avvo.com website.

The Joint Stipulation states: “ On April 10, 2013, Rinehart (the client) posted a second negative client review of Respondent on AVVO. Respondent replied to his post and revealed confidential information about his case. Respondent’s reply to Rinehart’s second posting contained information relating to her representation of Rinehart and exceeded what was necessary to respond to Rinehart’s accusations.”

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

The case is captioned Nelson v. Quarles and Brady, LLP, 1-12-3122, Illinois Appellate Court, First District. This is probably the most important legal malpractice case decided in Illinois in 2013. The opinion is thoughtful and scholarly.

The underlying case

The underlying dispute was a contract dispute between two business partners, Kenneth Nelson and Richard Curia. The facts are exceedingly complicated and revolve around two written agreements and an oral agreement.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

The case is captioned In re Michael Naphtali Miller, 2012 PR 00072

In 2004, Miller represented Jeanne O. Meyer in the sale of her home. Ms. Meyer was 77 years old at the time. In 2009, Miller prepared statutory powers of attorney for healthcare and property for Ms. Meyer, both of which named Miller as the agent. Miller submitted an invoice for $2500 for the work on the powers of attorney and for a review of other estate planning documents. The invoice was paid in full.

In 2010, Miller requested and received from Ms. Meyer a “retainer for 2010 Legal Services” in the amount of $25,000. In February 2010, Miller met with Ms. Meyer at the nursing home where she resided and asked her to loan him $50,000. In November 2010, Miller gave Ms. Meyer a promissory note in which he agreed to repay the loan. Miller admitted that he was in financial difficulties at the time he obtained the retainer and the loan.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

ALEO v. Weyant, Tenn: Court of Appeals 2013 – Google Scholar.

This is a growing area of legal malpractice liability for family law practitioners. After a divorce, one party claims that her lawyer failed to secure a portion of the other party’s pension. The divorce court has the right to apportion the pension plan, but unless it is done correctly, the apportionment will not take effect. In Illinois, the lawyers must enter a QDRO, a qualified domestic relations order.

In the above-captioned case the client alleged that the lawyer failed to include provisions in the marital settlement agreement necessary to divide a military pension. Unfortunately, the case was dismissed on statute of limitations grounds.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

The case is captioned Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Robert Allan Wright, Jr., 13-0780, December 6, 2013.  The Iowa Supreme Court disciplined Wright for (a) failing to recognize a Nigerian scam and (b) allowing other clients to participate in the scam.  This case has received a fair amount of press attention, but the press has ignored the main issue in the case from a lawyer discipline perspective.

The trouble began when Wright was contacted by a client, Floyd Madison who informed Wright that Madison was the beneficiary of a large bequest from a long-lost cousin in Nigeria. Madison told Wright that he needed to pay $177,660 in inheritance taxes and then he (Madison) would receive the money. Most lawyers would have told Madison that the transaction was a scam. Wright, however, drafted a contingency fee agreement under which Wright would receive 10% of the inheritance in exchange for representing Madison.

Wright then made more mistakes. He urged several of his clients to loan money to Madison to help Madison pay the “inheritance taxes.”  At Wright’s urging, several of his other clients made loans to Madison. Wright placed the proceeds of the loans in his trust account. The opinion states “Wright stipulated that he failed to advise White, Stodden and Nunneman that they should seek independent counsel before making the loans to Madison.”

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

Filed December 13.

This is a decision of the ARDC Review Board recommending a three-year suspension for a lawyer who attacked the integrity of four judges. The Review Board concluded that the statements were not protected by the First Amendment because the statements were obviously false. The lawyer accused the judges of corruption when they did not agree with him.

Rule 8.2(a) is relevant here. It provides in relevant part: ”

Continue reading →
Contact Information
111 W Washington St, #1437
Chicago, IL 60602 Phone: 312.357.1515

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2015 – 2026, The Clinton Law Firm
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design