Editors note: This is the last in a three-part series. Bruce Bellingham drafted the appellees Supreme Court brief in Ohio Casualty v. Ingerman Construction.
Part I of this series set forth the peculiar circumstance in which a Philadelphia law firm was sued for malpractice allegedly committed in its successful defense of its client. Part II addressed whether a prevailing client can ever prove malpractice damages in its case-within-the-case, an issue that arises with surprising frequency (the answer is: probably not). It also addressed a very common situation in which a client alleges it was forced to settle because of malpractice. Such claims are obviously viable, but can a forced decision to pay toward a settlement prove malpractice damages in that amount (the answer is: probably not). This last installment addresses whether a client can claim payments on its behalf by a liability insurer as its malpractice damages. It also addresses certain hypothetical issues posed by the peculiar fact pattern in which an excess carrier sued its insureds lawyer as an assignee when the insured client was satisfied with its lawyer. That assignee litigation strategy failed the third-party payor, but could another have gotten the plaintiff past summary judgment?
