Raising the doctrine of lis pendens during preliminary objections is sufficient to put parties on notice that the case could be dismissed on res judicata grounds, a Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled in a decision dismissing a legal malpractice lawsuit.

A unanimous three-judge Superior Court panel earlier this month ruled in Khalil v. Cole that plaintiff Dr. Ahlam Khalil could not proceed with her legal malpractice claims against lawyers Beth Cole and Gerald Williams and the law firms of Williams Cedar and Williams Cuker Berezofsky, which broke up in 2017. The ruling affirmed a decision out of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, which had dismissed the case several months after a nearly identical lawsuit raising similar issues was dismissed on the merits.