ISBA Mutual Loses Bid To Deny Coverage
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
An insurance company has a duty to defend a lawyer who did not disclose a threatening letter he received from a client who later sued him, a state appeals panel ruled.
The 1st District Appellate Court found that the Illinois State Bar Association Mutual Insurance Co. must defend Arthur S. Gold in a legal-malpractice case because Gold receiving the letter did not mean he knew that he would be sued.
“The policy did not require Gold to inform ISBA Mutual of every client who had expressed some dissatisfaction with Gold’s services,” Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. wrote in Wednesday’s 13-page unpublished order affirming the trial court’s granting of summary judgment to Gold.
The case began in 2004, when Gold, a partner at Gold & Associates Ltd., received a letter from a disgruntled client, William Messner.
Messner had recently lost a breach-of-contract lawsuit and wrote that he had considered “go(ing) to war” with Gold to recover the attorney fees he had paid.
“Frankly, your work is the laziest lawyering I have witnessed,” Messner wrote.
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From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
An insurance company has a duty to defend a lawyer who did not disclose a threatening letter he received from a client who later sued him, a state appeals panel ruled.
The 1st District Appellate Court found that the Illinois State Bar Association Mutual Insurance Co. must defend Arthur S. Gold in a legal-malpractice case because Gold receiving the letter did not mean he knew that he would be sued.
“The policy did not require Gold to inform ISBA Mutual of every client who had expressed some dissatisfaction with Gold’s services,” Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. wrote in Wednesday’s 13-page unpublished order affirming the trial court’s granting of summary judgment to Gold.
The case began in 2004, when Gold, a partner at Gold & Associates Ltd., received a letter from a disgruntled client, William Messner.
Messner had recently lost a breach-of-contract lawsuit and wrote that he had considered “go(ing) to war” with Gold to recover the attorney fees he had paid.
“Frankly, your work is the laziest lawyering I have witnessed,” Messner wrote.
Read more in our daily News Update...