Facts

According to the plaintiff: Plaintiff L. Thomas Murphy Jr. and defendant John F. Murphy were brothers and law partners from 1976 to February 1983. At that time, they dissolved their law partnership and orally agreed they would split equally the fees from each one's best and potentially largest case pending at the time of the dissolution. The plaintiff gave defendant half the fees from his biggest case, a real estate case from which the attorney fees amounted to 18 acres of land. The defendant promised plaintiff half the fees from a pending insurance bad faith claim which had been referred to another law firm for litigation. The insurance bad faith case was removed to federal court and summarily dismissed on a claim that the wrong insurance company had been named. No opposition was filed. The plaintiff alleged that at the time of the dissolution agreement, the defendant knew that the insurance bad faith claim had no merit. The defendant represented the bad faith claimant in an underlying legal malpractice action. The defendant, as the attorney, knew that liability in the underlying case was not "reasonably clear" and that the carrier had been unable to obtain its insured's "consent." Both issues were complete defenses to bad faith predicated on a violation of Insurance Code Section 790.03(h)(5). It was not until late 1992 that plaintiff had reason to become concerned about the case and commenced inquiry and discovered the true facts. The defendant contended that no special agreement was made at the time of the partnership dissolution. The defendant was already entitled to (nine acres) fees from the real estate case as judgment was entered therein in 1981. The bad faith insurance case was viable and sole responsibility for acts and omissions in that case rested with the law firm to whom it had been referred. The plaintiff knew that the case had been lost in 1984 and, therefore, the plaintiff was barred by the statute of limitations.