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Revisiting the Applicability of the Entire Controversy Doctrine to Legal Malpractice Claims

4/2/19

By: Nicole Graham

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently revisited the applicability of the entire controversy doctrine as it relates to legal malpractice claims. In Dimitrakopoulos v. Borrus, Goldin, Foley, Vignuolo, Hyman and Stahl, P.C., 2019 N.J. LEXIS 272, 219 WL 1065049 (N.J. 2019), the client asserted a claim for legal malpractice against the law firm three years after a default judgment was entered against the client in a collection action the law firm had previously filed. The law firm moved to dismiss based on the entire controversy doctrine because the legal malpractice claim was not raised as a counterclaim in the collection action. The clients claimed they were not obligated to assert a malpractice claim in the collection action because (1) the statute of limitations on the malpractice claim had not run and (2) they did not know during the pendency of the collection action that the law firm had committed malpractice. The clients argued they were representing themselves in the collection and as pro se litigants could not identify a malpractice claim. They further claimed that requiring a pro se litigant to identify malpractice claim is contrary to public policy.  The law firm argued the client did know about their claim as evidenced by their answer to the collection action complaint in which they alleged there were billed for legal work that was unnecessary and contrary to their direction.
The trial court dismissed the legal malpractice claim finding it was precluded by the entire controversy doctrine. The appellate court affirmed. The New Jersey State Bar Association filed an amicus brief and argued that unless the entire controversy applied, no attorney’s collection judgment would be considered final because the client would be permitted to bring a malpractice claim at a later stage.
The New Jersey Supreme Court reiterated its holding in Olds v. Donnelly, 150 N.J. 424, 443, 696 A.2d 633 (1997), that the entire controversy doctrine does not compel a client to assert a legal malpractice claim against an attorney in the underlying litigation in which the attorney represents the client. The Court noted, however, a collection action brought by a law firm against its client for unpaid legal fees does not constitute “underlying litigation” because the lawyer and client are already adverse and, therefore, such litigation does not raise the privilege and loyalty concerns that warrant the exception to the entire controversy doctrine recognized in Olds. Therefore, a court may apply the entire controversy doctrine to preclude a later filed legal malpractice claim the client declined to assert in the attorney’s action to collect unpaid legal fees.
Such preclusion is not absolute. The entire controversy doctrine is an equitable doctrine whose application is left to judicial discretion based on the factual circumstances of individual cases. The client can avoid preclusion by demonstrating the prior forum did not afford a fair and reasonable opportunity to have fully litigated the malpractice claim. The court may consider such issues as the steps required to investigate, file and prosecute the malpractice claim in that forum, the status of the collection action when the malpractice claim accrued, the time constraints imposed by the rules of court, and the prospect of obtaining extensions of time to litigate the malpractice claim. A client may also avoid preclusion if he or she did not know, and should not have reasonably known, of the existence of the malpractice claim during the pendency of the collection action.
The New Jersey Supreme Court remanded the case to the trial court to determine when the legal malpractice claim accrued and whether the malpractice claimants would have had a fair and reasonable opportunity to have fully litigated their claim in the collection action.
When defending a legal malpractice claim where the defendant law firm previously litigated a collection action for unpaid fees, it is not enough to argue the entire controversy doctrine bars the claim. The defendant law firm must also prove the client knew or should have reasonably known of the existence of the claim during the pendency of the collection action, and that the forum in which the collection action was pending would have provided the client a fair and reasonable opportunity to fully litigate the malpractice claim.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Nicole Graham at ngraham@fmglaw.com.