Swartz Campbell Professional Liability Blog

Legal Intelligencer Reports Justice McCaffery Contacted Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas about Cases

jbyrne — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:31:12 +0000

The Legal Intelligencer is reporting “several knowledgeable sources” in the Philadelphia court system have provided information about contacts Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery had with the court in cases involving a law firm from which Justice McCaffery’s wife, Lise Rapaport, received referral fees. This news follows on the heels of a Philadelphia Inquirer article which alleged the FBI is investigating Justice McCaffery over referral fees received by his wife. In response to the alleged FBI probe, Chief Justice Ron Castille was quoted by Dave Davies of newsworks.org as stating: “It’s a distraction to the Supreme Court and an embarrassment to our court also. . . [s]o I think if I was Justice McCaffery, I’d start rethinking my position on the Supreme Court.”

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

FBI Probe of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice McCaffery?

jbyrne — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:29:41 +0000

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the FBI is investigating referral fees received by Lise Rapaport, the wife and chief aide of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery. The Inquirer has previously reported on the fees received by Ms. Rapaport, including an $821,000 payment from the firm Fodera, Long & Lalli following a settlement of $7.5 million medical malpractice action. According to the Inquirer, Chief Justice Castille, who has been involved in a public feud with Justice McCaffery, has “urged fellow justices to consider whether McCaffery might have violated the state Ethics Act if he gave his wife permission to make the referrals and earn the fees.” The FBI would neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

New York Times Opinion Piece on Patent Trolls

jbyrne — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:04:34 +0000

We have previously written about patent trolls, and some of their serious consequences. The New York Times has a nice opinion piece on efforts to stop them.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

Legal Malpractice Claim Against Blank Rome

jbyrne — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:26:50 +0000

Kristina Armstrong, the ex-wife of Morgan Stanley executive Michael Armstrong, has sued Blank Rome, and two of its attorneys. Ms. Armstrong claims the Blank Rome attorneys, Norman Heller, Esquire and Dylan Mitchell, Esquire, had a conflict of interest and did not represent her best interests because Morgan Stanley was also a client of Blank Rome. The lawsuit alleges the attorneys, without Ms. Armstrong’s consent, agreed not to seek possession of Mr. Armstrong’s securities licenses. The complaint also alleges the attorneys advised Ms. Armstrong not call the police after Mr. Armstrong became verbally abusive in March of 2010, and allegedly threatened to kill Ms. Armstrong. The lawsuit seeks $8.3 million in compensatory damages, $25 million in punitive damages, and $240,000 in legal fees paid.

Although a spokesman for Blank Rome has asserted the claim is meritless, the mere fact of the claim reinforces the necessity of thorough conflict checks before accepting any case.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

New York Lawyers Suspended for Advising Client to Change Story

jbyrne — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:23:53 +0000

New York attorneys Shane Rios and Daniel Levy have been suspended from the practice of law for nine months. Mr. Rios and Mr. Levy admitted they advised their client she would have no viable case if she fell outside her church, as she had originally told them happened, but she would have a viable case if she fell across the street where there was a badly maintained sidewalk. When the lawyers then asked where the client had fallen, she told them across the street from the church. The panel of the First Judicial Department deciding the case found: “based on the record, it is clear that respondents intentionally influenced their client to misrepresent the situs of her accident in order to pursue an action which they knew was fraudulent from its inception.” The lawyers were charged with violating Rules of Professional Conduct 8.4(c)(dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation), 8.4(h) (conduct that adversely reflects on fitness as an attorney), 1.1(b) (handling a matter the lawyer is not competent to handle).

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

Lawyer Arrested for Stealing from Client

jbyrne — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:51:40 +0000

Berks County attorney, David John Delcollo, Esquire, was arrested last week and charged with theft and related charges for allegedly accepting $1,900 from Julio Arocho, an inmate at Berks County Prison to represent him in a criminal action, but then not providing any services. Mr. Delcollo was arraigned before Judge Alvin B. Robinson, and bail was set at $10,000. An emergency motion to reduce bail was granted, and Mr. Delcollo remains free pending further court action.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

Josh Byrne Named to PBA Position

jbyrne — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:55:24 +0000

Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire, of Swartz Campbell’s professional liability department, has been appointed Vice Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Professional Liability Committee.

Law Firm Labeled “Porno Trolling Collective”

jbyrne — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:26:17 +0000

Los Angeles based United States District Judge Otis D. Wright, II, has issued an order assessing $81,320 in legal fees against Prenda Law, Inc., four lawyers, John Steele, Paul Hansmeir, Paul Duffy, and Brett Gibbs, and other related companies. Judge Wright’s sanction order states he will ask the US attorney’s office, Internal Revenue Service and federal and state bar associations to look into the operations of Prenda Law Inc. and its associated attorneys.

Prenda accused individuals of illegally downloading pornographic videos, and then offered to settle for just under the cost of a bare-bones defense. Judge Wright essentially found this was a scam to shake down individuals by making an offer they could not refuse.

A number of Star Trek references appear in the opinion, including a quote from Spock: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” As well as the directive: “though Plaintiffs boldly probe the outskirts of law, the only enterprise they resemble is RICO. . . [t]he federal agency eleven decks up [the U.S. Attorney's office] is familiar with their prime directive and will gladly refit them for their next voyage.” Judge Wright states: “copyright laws originally designed to compensate starving artists allow, starving attorneys in this electronic-media era to plunder the citizenry.” Judge Wright requested Morgan Pietz of The Pietz Law Firm in Manhattan Beach, Calif., who brought the matter to Judge Wright’s attention, file a report within 14 days listing every state and federal bar the attorneys are admitted to practice in front of, and every judge before whom they have cases.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

Legal Malpractice and Coverage Issues Arising Out of Referral to a Financial Services Professional

jbyrne — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:08:05 +0000

Attorney Roger A. Giuliani has a history of problems. In 2004, a Nassau County, New York, judge awarded $2 million in punitive damages to a man who responded to Mr. Giuliani’s advertisement for a living trust and lost $2,000, when Mr. Giuliani allegedly sent a non-attorney to the home of Gerald Campbell to execute a living trust. It was alleged that Mr. Giuliani and other defendants pocketed the money without providing the service. More recently, Mr. Giuliani has been accused of engaging in a mass market mail campaign targeting senior citizens for estate planning legal services. Once the offer for legal services was accepted, Mr. Giuliani referred his clients to financial services representatives. Following the referrals, four clients became the victim of theft and fraud by the financial services representatives.

The lawsuits by the four clients of Mr. Giuliani led to a lawsuit by American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company against Chicago Insurance Company to determine coverage. Two of the victims filed their claims while Mr. Giuliani was insured by Chicago Insurance. The other two victims filed their claims while Mr. Giuliani was insured by a subsequent insurer, American Guarantee. Both policies for Mr. Giuliani were “claims made” policies. American Guarantee sought to hold Chicago Insurance responsible to cover the claims made by the two later claimants because the latter claims were “same and/or related” to the first two claims. The New York Supreme Court, New York County, published an opinion on April 25, 2013, holding the claims were not the same or related. The court noted “a claims-made policy is designed to protect the policyholder during the life of the policy upon ‘notice to the carrier within the policy period.’” The court noted that claims made policies permit an insurer to be certain “that, when the policy period ends without a claim having been made, the insurer will be exposed to no further liability.” The court found there were “substantial differences between the victims, including the amounts of the claims and the fact the financial services professional who allegedly committed the fraud was not the same in each circumstance.”

While the coverage dispute in this matter is interesting, the legal malpractice avoidance take away is the idea that an attorney may be sued for referring their client to a financial services professional. This is not an isolated case. Attorneys are frequently sued because the financial service professional they referred their client to turned out to be incompetent, or worse still, criminal.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire

Former CIO of Mayer Brown Pleads Guilty

jbyrne — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:07:34 +0000

In August of 20012, the former global chief information officer of the Chicago law firm Mayer Brown, David Tresch was arrested on charges of embezzlement. Mr. Tresch was arrested for an alleged $4.8 million billing and kick back scheme. It was alleged Mr. Tresch was paid about $2 million in kickbacks by Nicholas Demars who owned a firm supplying contract employees and technology services to the law firm. On Monday, Mr. Tresch entered into a guilty plea under a deal with prosecutors. According to the plea deal, the law firm paid Mr. Dumars firm $7.6 million, and Mr. Tresch received kick backs of over $1 million.

-Josh J.T. Byrne, Esquire