Despite conceding that it was “not an obviously sensible result,” a federal judge in Massachusetts said he was constrained to set aside a $1.1 million legal malpractice jury verdict previously entered in favor of a lawyer’s client. The reason? The lawyer failed to timely notify his malpractice insurer of the claim.
In the underlying litigation, Joan Stormo hired attorney Peter T. Clark, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, to represent her in the sale of real estate to KGM Custom Homes, Inc. in 2004 and 2005. The sale failed to close “in substantial part to the conduct of Clark,” according to the opinion filed Aug. 25 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
