While attorneys offer advice to clients and execute legal documents for them, are they liable when the client makes a decision that doesn't provide the resolution originally anticipated? In this professional liability claim an attorney counsels an employee to proceed with caution, but the employee has other ideas.
The Facts
Plaintiff Carol Reynolds was the bookkeeper and legal secretary for defendant Lucy Crawford, a patent lawyer. Mrs. Reynolds and her husband, George, owned a second home that they rented to a tenant on a monthly basis. On two different occasions, Reynolds obtained advice from Crawford to serve a “Demand for Possession for Non-Payment of Rent” to secure late rent payments from her tenant, which Crawford prepared. Reynolds again approached Crawford, requesting advice on what to do about the delinquent tenant. Reynolds contended that Crawford then advised her to participate in a mortgage reduction program offered by one of Crawford's patent clients, WYM (Wipeout Your Mortgage) Technology Solutions.
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