Law.Com via Newsday reports that Sam Wiley "the colorful Texas billionaire" has sued Milberg Weiss and other class action plaintiff’s law firms for their handling of the Computer Associates class action matter. Essentially he charges the settled too soon and for too little, in order to grab legal fees prematurely.
"Wyly’s beef? He claims that…
Here is a post from NY Lawyer:
In April 2003, Steven Garfinkel, the chief financial officer of DVI Inc., wrote a memo to chief executive officer Michael O’Hanlon about the crushing liquidity crisis facing the health-care finance company and its implications for a pending stock float. The CFO urged his boss to talk as…
This post is about bad lawyering. While not legal malpractice [in the sense that it mainly involves criminal defendants who cannot sue their attorney in New York or in most jurisdictions]. it is about the US Supreme Court letting the defendant hang while excusing the poor attorney performance.
"The U.S. Supreme Court in 1984 established…
The Massey Coal company case in West Virginia with its sister case in Virginia was a $ 50 million verdict, with a legal malpractice case arising from a similar loss in Virginia and the failure appropriately to file an appeal. From this post both seem doomed.
"Posted on November 22, 2007 by Jeffrey V. Mehalic …
While it is rare, on ocassion, a client may be ordered to pay double fees in a contingent fee case. Here is an example:
Greenberg v. Cross Island Industries Inc., 05CV6026
Decided: October 16, 2007
District Judge Arthur D. Spatt
U.S. DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
Alpert & Kaufman, LLP
First Attorneys for…
It’s a trap for the unwary. We’ve written about this here on the blog, in the New York Law Journal and elsewhere.
Fee determinations in legal fee disputes are determinative of a later legal malpractice case. Let’s take an example. Attorney does horrible job, loses case for plaintiff on discovery preclusion grounds. Let’s assume it…
Here is a textbook discussion of pleading and dismissal by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Flax v. Schertler. The Court agreed with plaintiff that she had sufficiently alleged failure to bring alternative fraud and fiduciary causes of action in the underlying case, and that she be given additional discovery before motions to…
Burton v. Continental Cas. Co., 2007 WL 2669201 (S.D. Miss. Sept. 6, 2007).
Wiley Rein reports:
"The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, applying Mississippi law, has granted summary judgment for an insured attorney, holding that his insurer was obligated to defend the attorney where the underlying complaint alleged misconduct that…
Another write up from Hinshaw:
Richard H. Milgrub v. Continental Casualty Company, 2007 WL 625039 (W.D. Pa.).
The attorney-insured in this case sold his home and represented himself, his wife and the buyers in the transaction. The buyers subsequently sued the attorney alleging breach of fiduciary duty and professional negligence. After the attorney’s professional liability…
From Hinshaw: In an Illinois case where the legal malpractice complaint was dismissed, the court went too far in Visvardis v. Ferleger, ___ Ill. App. 3d ___, 873 N.E.2d 436 (1st Dist. 2007)
"Illinois’ First District Appellate Court recently held that a trial court erred when it went outside of the pleadings to grant…
