Legal Malpractice Plaintiff Claims Attorney Failed To Convey Offer of Settlement
On January 6, 2022, an appellate court agreed that a Manhattan attorney could not be sued for failing to convey to his client an offer to settle a personal injury law suit - in the absence of an allegation that the plaintiff would have accepted the offer. This case represents the application of a well settled long standing rule in legal malpractice cases concerning settlements. The plaintiff was injured at a Banana Republic retail establishment and retained counsel to file a personal injury action. The plaintiff made a vague claim that her attorney had received an offer of settlement after she was deposed but that it was never conveyed to her. After depositions in the personal injury action were completed, Banana Republic successfully filed a motion for summary judgment and the personal injury action was dismissed.
Without even addressing the question of fact (was an offer made) the lower court dismissed the case because: "the complaint fails to allege that plaintiff would have accepted the offer if she had known of it." The plaintiff never even stated what the amount of the alleged offer was. Interestingly, in addition to the attorney denying an offer had been extended by Banana Republic, an affidavit from the attorney representing Banana Republic represented that neither he or his firm had ever made any offer to settle. A Patricia Turso Drasche v Edelman & Edelman, 2022 WL 51852
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