Northrop v. Schielke, et al.; Schielke v. H. Hafif, et al.
Published: Dec. 14, 1996 | Result Date: Oct. 3, 1996 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: BC103023 – $225,000
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central West
Attorneys
Plaintiff
David J. Wilzig
(David J Wilzig APC)
Defendant
Gregory K. Hafif
(Law Office of Herbert Hafif PC)
Facts
From 1987 to 1993, plaintiff/defendant Terrence Schielke was represented by the defendant, the Law Offices of Herbert Hafif (LOHH), Herbert Hafif, Robert Kilborne and Greg Hafif, in several cases. In one case, LOHH obtained a $45.3 million verdict on behalf of Schielke and two others. After leaving LOHH, Schielke was represented by a former employee of LOHH, attorney Philip Benson. Schielke claimed that the LOHH defendants were negligent or breached their fiduciary duties by failing to advise of possible conflicts of interest that may arise in the representation of multiple clients and of aggregating multiple client costs. Schielke brought this action against the defendants based on negligence and attorney malpractice theories of recovery. The plaintiff's case was subsequently consolidated with an earlier interpleader action which had been filed by Northrop Corp., interpleading $250,000 in funds in which the defendants and Schielke claimed an interest. Northrop was dismissed as a party prior to trial.
Settlement Discussions
The parties held a court-ordered settlement ocnference on July 13, 1995, resulting in Schielke offering the defendants $25,000 of the $250,000 interpleader funds, which offer was declined by LOHH.
Damages
Schielke sought 100 percent of the interpled funds; LOHH sough 100 percent of the interpled funds.
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately two years and five months after the case was filed. The court ruled for the LOHH defendants as the prevailing parties and found no bad faith, no negligence, no fraud and no overstatement of costs. The negligence actions were nonsuited. Philip Benson, Esq. was found to be noncredible as an expert witness (as stated in the court's decision).
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