Turkish and CM Win Dismissal For Legal Malpractice Client
Clausen Miller partner Andrew Turkish of the New Jersey office recently won dismissal of a legal malpractice claim against our client in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County. The client represented a Limited Liability Company in an indemnification matter. As part of that proceeding, the client came into possession of a notice of claim letter from the New Jersey Medicaid Fraud Division of a potential fraud claim against his client, but addressed to the former managing member of the LLC. Our client allegedly did not notify the former managing member of Medicaid’s notice of claim, even though he represented the LLC at the time. Ultimately, the Medicaid Fraud Division obtained a $4 million judgment against the former managing member of the LLC and he allegedly suffered harm as he was denied personal and business loans as a result of the judgment. The court ruled that the former managing member of the LLC had no standing to sue our client because our client only represented the LLC and not the individual members. Therefore, there was no duty to the plaintiff as a matter of law. In making its decision the court relied on established precedent which holds that a corporation, including an LLC is separate and distinct from its members.
Andrew S. Turkish