California Court of Appeal
Expansion Pointe Props. Ltd. P'ship v. Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP, D048189
Summary judgment for defendant law firm in legal malpractice action, based on Ferguson v. Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1037, which held that lost punitive damages in an underlying action are not recoverable as compensatory damages in a legal malpractice action, is affirmed over claims that: 1) the general rule of retrospective application of judicial opinions should not apply here as it relied on pre-Ferguson law when plaintiff signed the retainer agreement; and 2) despite a California choice-of-law provision in the retainer agreement, under California conflict of law principles the court erred by not applying Arizona law that is contrary to Ferguson.
Appellate Information
- Decided 06/15/2007
- Published 06/15/2007
Judges
- McCONNELL, P.J.
Court
- California Court of Appeal
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- R.A. Mahavier, A.P.L.C. and R. Anthony Mahavier, San Diego, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
- For Appellees:
- Kirby Noonan Lance & Hoge LLP, David J. Noonan and Steven W. Sanchez, San Diego, for Defendants and Respondents.