Lawyers at DBMS successfully litigate a wide variety of civil cases and argue appeals in some of the most challenging jurisdictions in the country.
Plaintiffs v. Defendant Attorney
Defendant Attorney
Outcome:Dismissal
DBMS secured dismissal of a legal malpractice complaint against a litigation attorney. DBMS’ client represented a group of women’s health clinics in litigation arising out of a check fraud scheme in which one of the clinics’ employees managed to embezzle over $2 million in insurance reimbursement payments. Faced with statute of limitations issues and insolvent defendants, DBMS’ client reached a settlement with the local bank where the employee-fraudster had deposited the forged checks.
In the subsequent legal malpractice case, the health clinics argued DBMS’ client should have also sued the insurance companies’ banks—i.e. the banks who issued the checks—under a UCC Article 3 conversion theory. Citing decisions by federal courts in related cases, DBMS successfully argued that any potential claims against the insurance companies’ banks were doomed to fail, and, accordingly, the health clinics could not recover in a malpractice action based on DBMS’ client’s decision not to sue those banks. After supplemental briefing and a motion to reconsider, the court dismissed the case against DBMS’ client with prejudice.