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Florida Attorney Gets Attorney Fees in Malpractice Action

December 3, 2021 | Posted in : Expenses / Costs, Fee Entitlement / Recoverability, Fee Issues on Appeal, Interest on Fees, Legal Malpractice, Offer of Judgment (Rule 68)

A recent Law360 story by Carolina Bolado, “Buchanan Ingersoll Atty Gets Fees in Malpractice Suit,” reports that a Florida appeals court ruled that a Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC attorney who dodged legal malpractice claims from a prominent Miami developer can collect attorney fees and costs under the state's offer-of-judgment statute.  Florida's Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the award of attorney fees and costs to Buchanan Ingersoll partner Richard A. Morgan, who had made a settlement offer to former client Avra Jain earlier in the litigation before he won on summary judgment.

Jain argues that Morgan, not the firm, made the settlement offer to her, and because he himself never incurred any attorney fees, he is not entitled to recover them under the offer-of-judgment statute.  But the appeals court disagreed, finding that fees and costs were incurred on his behalf by Buchanan Ingersoll, which was also named as a defendant in her legal malpractice suit stemming from an $11 million judgment against her.

"While we agree with Jain that Morgan himself did not incur attorney's fees, we disagree with Jain's contention that attorney's fees were not incurred on his behalf," the court said.  The appeals court in June already affirmed the summary judgment ruling for Morgan and Buchanan Ingersoll, denying Jain's bid to make them pay the millions in damages, interest and attorney fees she was found to owe a former business partner.