Judy Robbins v. Confidential
Published: May 10, 1997 | Result Date: Apr. 10, 1997 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: LC023927 – $0
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Robert S. Scuderi
(Law Office of Robert S. Scuderi)
Facts
On Aug. 3, 1995, plaintiff Judy Robbins slipped on wet stairs at the Shamu exhibit at Sea World and fractured her leg. The plaintiff retained the defendant attorney to represent her in a case against Sea World. The defendant attorney filed a timely suit on June 22, 1986 in San Diego Superior Court. In December 1989, the defendant sent a joint at-issue memorandum to opposing counsel, and on March 23, 1990, a trial-setting conference was held. At the trial setting conference, a mandatory settlement conference was set for Nov. 9, 1990, and a trial date was set in December 1990. Several days after the trial setting conference, Sea World filed a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute on the grounds that approximately one year had elapsed from the last discovery to the time the joint at-issue memorandum was sent to opposing counsel. The court granted the motion and the case was dismissed. The defendant, on behalf of the plaintiff, appealed the dismissal, but the Court of Appeals, in an unpublished decision, upheld the dismissal on the ground that an abuse of discretion was not shown. The plaintiff then brought this action against the defendant attorney based on legal malpractice, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, fraud and breach of an alleged agreement to settle the malpractice action for $75,000. (The plaintiff alleged that in exchange for her forbearance from suing the defendant for malpractice, he would pay her $75,000.) In June 1996, a jury trial was heard before Judge Richard Adler. All causes of action were bifurcated from the breach of contract cause of action. After the presentation of the plantiff's legal malpractice case, the plaintiff dismissed the fraud and infliction of emotional distress causes of action. Subsequently, the court granted the defendant's motion for nonsuit on the ground that no evidence was produced to establish that Sea World was negligent or that a dangerous condition existed on the subject premises. The plaintiff then presented her breach of contract case and the jury returned a verdict of $16,375. The defendant moved for a new trial and the court granted a new trial on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to support the verdict (the alleged oral contract was for $75,000 not $16,375). On April 1997, the case was again called for jury trial before Judge Richard G. Kolostian. The defendant moved for a judgment on the pleadings on the ground that since the alleged oral contract was payment of $75,000 for forbearance in instituting a legal malpractice action against the defendant, by trying the legal malpractice action to conclusion, the plaintiff elected a remedy and repudiated the contract. The defendant's motion was granted.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a settlement demand for $75,000. The defendant made a settlement offer of $500.
Specials in Evidence
$30,000 (underlying claim)
Other Information
The award was rendered approximately three years and one month after the case was filed. On cross-examination, the plaintiff's legal expert, a well known personal injury attorney, opined that the defendant's attorney had been "hometowned" by entry of the dismissal order.
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