"Duane Morris, ordered out of a local arbitration proceeding last year after being sued by health care giant McKesson Corp. over a conflict of interest, has filed a motion for a new trial and asked that a permanent injunction against it be lifted.

McKesson contends that because Duane Morris represented one of its subsidiaries in a Pennsylvania bankruptcy case, it is barred from representing an Atlanta couple suing another McKesson subsidiary.

However, in a motion filed last month by Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore partner Emmett J. Bondurant on behalf of Duane Morris (which had represented itself in earlier proceedings), the firm notes that a Pennsylvania bankruptcy case cited as the root of the conflict has been settled, and argues that no attorney-client relationship now exists between Duane Morris and McKesson.

In response, Morris Manning & Martin partners Joseph R. Manning and Larry H. Kunin last month filed a brief on McKesson’s behalf resisting the move, asserting that Duane Morris’ arguments fly in the face of legal rules and precedent, amounting to a "hot-potato" stratagem in which a lawyer abandons one client in favor of another whose business may be more lucrative. " From Law.com

Here is a man wrongfully convicted of rape, who was released after 4 years.  He obtained the maximum $ 25,000 from the state and a portion of his appellate fees.  He also sued his criminal defense attorney for failing to go after DNA evidence, which eventually exonorated him.  First Trial?  $2.8 million, then appellate reversal.  They later settled for an unknown amount.  The article

Attorney Richard Altman was not permitted fees in his defense [on a contingent retainer] of the artist whose wall side work on Houston and Broadway hung, was removed, was reinstated and then lost on appeal.  He is permitted the possiblity of fees on an appeal, however.  The details. " A claim for attorney’s fees against the artist who created Soho’s well-known sculpture "The Wall" will go forward following a Manhattan judge’s partial denial of the artist’s motion to dismiss.

Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman  dismissed a claim for more than $250,000 in connection with the federal lawsuit Richard A. Altman initiated on behalf of sculptor Forrest W. Myers, but held that Mr. Myers may be responsible for the work Mr. Altman performed towards an appeal before Mr. Myers substituted counsel and withdrew the appeal.

Here is a toothsome [sorry] case in which dentists, turned lawyers are now accused of legal malpractice in a dental malpractice case.

Their mistake?  Not asserting loss of income in the BP.  The result?  A pain and suffering verdict of     $ 260,000  but nothing for loss of income.  From the New York Law Journal:

"A jury should determine if two lawyers who are also dentists committed legal malpractice in a case brought against another dentist, a federal judge has ruled.

Southern District Judge Gerard Lynch held that attorneys Marc Leffler and David J. Sokol, who are both qualified dentists, are not entitled to summary judgment in a suit alleging they failed to include in a bill of particulars a client’s claim for hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost earnings"

"The judge said there is "a genuine issue of fact as to whether Diamond would have been foreclosed at the point of Leffler’s departure from being able to pursue lost earnings and future medical expenses by amending her claims."

"Michael Furman and Andrew R. Jones of Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan represented Mr. Sokol.

William T. McCaffrey of L’Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini in Garden City represented Mr. Leffler and his former firm, Leffler & Kates."

Plaintiff in Legal Malpractice Case was a defendant in a personal injury case.  He says the case could have been settled for $ 35,000 when the injured party’s attorney made a demand.  His attorney, without asking junk yard owner, rejected the demand and went to trial.  Result ?  Junk yard owner paid more, and now sues attorney.

"The owner of an Alton junkyard filed a legal malpractice suit against his former attorneys in Madison County Dec. 22, claiming they negligently failed to settle a case for $35,000, which led to a settlement that caused him to pay $155,000 more than he should have.

Ken Edwards of Ken’s Auto Sales claims Raymond Stillwell and Nathan Anderson represented him after an employee, John West, suffered extensive injuries to his face on Dec. 3, 2003, when a multi-piece tire rim came apart striking West in the face.

According to the complaint, Edwards did not have workers’ compensation insurance at the time West received his injuries and retained the defendants to represent him in West’s personal injury suit.

He claims during the course of the litigation, West’s attorney, John Gibson, offered to settle the case for $35,000, but claims Stillwell and Anderson never told him about the offer and then withdrew as attorney of record in the personal injury case. "  The case

Its a bedrock principal.  In order successfully to sue a criminal defense attorney, you must show actual innocence.  Sometimes this is possible;  think the Innocence Project.  Often it is not; think ineffective assistance of counsel.  Here is a California play on the issue.  The blog.

Its a huge legal malpractice case, and we reported it over the summer.  Now WG moves for summary judgment against the National Benevolent Association of the Christian Church, which claims malpractice in their Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing.  We’ll follow for the decision.  In the meantime, Anthony Lin of the NYLJ writes:

"Weil Gotshal Moves to End Legal Malpractice Suit

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has moved for summary judgment in a legal malpractice suit brought against it in Texas by a former bankruptcy client. The National Benevolent Association of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), one of the largest non-profits ever to file for bankruptcy, sued Weil Gotshal in September 2005, claiming the New York law firm pushed it into a "disastrous" Chapter 11 filing rather than exploring a negotiated settlement with creditors. The St. Louis, Missouri-based group, which runs shelters for the elderly and teens, once had 2,500 employees in 20 states and annual revenues and contributions of $145 million. Following the 2004 bankruptcy, the group shrank to 365 employees in five facilities, though it retained a $70 million endowment. But in its summary judgment motion filed last week, Weil Gotshal said the group’s claims were based on "nothing more than speculation, conjecture and surmise." The law firm said there was no evidence that the group’s creditors had ever offered it any out-of-court restructuring, much less a "better deal" than the group got through its bankruptcy filing. Weil Gotshal also noted that the malpractice suit was filed by the association’s current board of trustees, not the one it had represented. The firm said all of the board members in office at the time were fully apprised of the bankruptcy and alternatives, and none held Weil Gotshal to blame for the outcome. The firm’s motion will be heard Jan. 27 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, where the group filed its Chapter 11 petition." – Anthony Lin