Oct. 17, 2013
Leo S. Papas
See more on Leo S. PapasJudicate West San Diego Specialties: class actions, employment, catastrophic personal injury, business/commercial, professional liability
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As an example, Papas recalled a recent mediation he had in a professional liability dispute. The plaintiff and her ex-husband were represented by the same attorney, who later prepared an allegedly insufficient conflict-of-interest letter.
The plaintiff ended up losing out on as much as $10 million from the settlement of a bad-faith insurance case.
"The attorney's defense was that the plaintiff was sophisticated, knew what was going on and intelligently waived any claim to the bad faith proceeds," Papas said.
The plaintiff made an earlier policy limits demand that was ignored by the carrier, he said, but without any request or indication more information was needed.
"As a result, plaintiff contended that this cap was off the policy, exposing the carrier to more than $10 million in liability," Papas said.
The case ultimately settled for seven figures.
"That matter had a lot of P's, including the personalities of the individual parties and the attorneys and dealing with the principles and emotions and expectations - all of those things we have to balance and find a way to deal with."
- Pat Broderick
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