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NJ Appeal Panel: Prior Fee Suit Bars Malpractice Claims

October 20, 2017 | Posted in : Fee Collection, Fee Dispute Litigation / ADR, Legal Malpractice, Unpaid Fees

A recent Law 360 story by Jeannie O’Sullivan, “Prior Fee Suit Bars Malpractice Claims, NJ Panel Says,” reports that Borrus Goldin Foley Vignuolo Hyman & Stahl dodged a legal malpractice complaint over its representation of a client suing a business partner over allegedly diverted funds, as a New Jersey appeals court affirmed the claims should have been lodged in a prior fee-collection dispute.

The two-judge Appellate Division panel’s decision dealt a blow to Evangelos and Matilde Dimitrakopoulos, agreeing with a trial court’s determination that the couple’s claims against the North Brunswick, New Jersey-based firm over alleged discovery, expert witness and billing gaffes were barred by the entire controversy doctrine.  The doctrine aims to prevent claims arising from the same set of facts from being relitigated.

The panel acknowledged that legal malpractice claims are exempt from the preclusive effect of the entire controversy doctrine, in that they needn’t be asserted in the underlying action that gives rise to the claim.  But the Dimitrakopouloses mistakenly applied the doctrine to the collection action, when the underlying action was actually the couple’s dispute with a former business partner, according to the appeals judges.

By the time the collection action was filed, the couple knew or should have known that their alleged damages were attributable to Borrus Goldin’s alleged professional negligence and could have filed their malpractice claims then, the opinion said.

“Instead, plaintiffs delayed three more years before filing their malpractice complaint.  Our consideration of the facts and equitable factors leads us to conclude that the motion judge correctly determined that the entire controversy doctrine applied here and barred plaintiffs' malpractice complaint,” the opinion said.

The Dimitrakopouloses retained Borrus Goldin in 2009 to assert claims that their business partner in a construction enterprise improperly diverted funds, according to the opinion.  The dispute went to arbitration in December 2010, and Borrus Goldin withdrew as counsel.  The issue was settled in September 2011 after the couple had retained new representation.

Meanwhile, Borrus Goldin had filed a collection action against the Dimitrakopouloses in March 2011 to collect its unpaid legal fees for services rendered in the underlying business dispute, the opinion said.  The court awarded a $121,947.99 judgment in favor of the firm.

The couple filed their malpractice action in September 2015, alleging the firm failed to properly plead claims and obtain consent before agreeing to arbitration, didn’t properly perform discovery and secure expert rebuttal reports, and billed for excessive amounts, the opinion said.  A Middlesex County Superior Court judge dismissed the claims, agreeing with the firm’s argument that the claims were barred by the entire controversy doctrine.

The case is Evangelos Dimitrakopoulos and Matilde Dimitrakopoulos v. Borrus Goldin Foley Vignuolo Hyman & Stahl PC et. al., case no. A-0880-16T3, in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.