One common complaint against an attorney is that the attorney did not negotiate an adequate settlement of the underlying case. In this fact pattern, Plaintiff hired Lawyer 1 to file a personal injury action. Plaintiff replaced Lawyer 1 with Lawyer 2 who (a) settled the personal injury case, and (b) brought and settled a claim against Lawyer 1 for legal malpractice. Plaintiff then sued Lawyer 2 for negligently advising him to settle the malpractice case against Lawyer 1.
So, one personal injury case spawned two legal malpractice lawsuits. The trial court dismissed the legal malpractice case against Lawyer 2 on the ground that the plaintiff’s allegations were conclusory. Plaintiff failed to allege an error by Lawyer 2 that would have caused the allegedly inadequate settlement. The key paragraph of this opinion is quoted below:
Here, plaintiff’s allegation that Bellinson’s advice denied him the full value of his malpractice suit against Pepperman was “purely conclusory” (Murray Hill Invs. v Parker Chapin Flattau & Klimpl, LLP, 305 AD2d 228, 229 [1st Dept 2003]). Plaintiff’s complaint lacked any factual allegations to support his conclusion that he “would have succeeded” in achieving a better result in the personal injury action but for Pepperman’s negligence, and that he would have proved legal malpractice against Pepperman but for defendants’ advice (Pellegrino, 291 AD2d at 63). Additionally, plaintiff’s damages were speculative as he provided no basis for his calculations (see id.; Zarin v Reid & Priest, 184 AD2d 385, 387-388 [1st Dept 1992]).
In other words the court noted that plaintiff failed to identify any actual alleged error by Lawyer 2 or explain how that error would have reduced the settlement.
Comment: this case is highly unsympathetic. Plaintiff hired Lawyer 2 to clean up the mess left by Lawyer 1. After settling the personal injury and the malpractice case, plaintiff then sued Lawyer 2 who, in turn, had to hire a lawyer and defend himself. For those of you who are lawyers, remember that some clients generate endless litigation and trouble and blame everyone but themselves for their problems.
Ed Clinton, Jr.