United States Fifth Circuit

In a suit by a bankruptcy trustee for legal malpractice and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, summary judgment for defendants is reversed and remanded where: 1) the trustee was not barred by the debtor's bankruptcy discharge from asserting a legal malpractice claim that had accrued to debtor before commencement of his bankruptcy proceedings; and 2) the trustee stands in the shoes of the debtor, thus he was not a third-party claimant and his cause of action against the debtor's insurer for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing was not limited by Louisiana law.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/13/2007
• Published 09/13/2007

Judges

• WIENER, Circuit Judge:, Before KING, WIENER, and OWEN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Bruce A. Cranner (argued), Michael H. Pinkerton, Frilot LLC, New Orleans, LA, for Stanley., Nancy Jane Marshall (argued), Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, New Orleans, LA, for Northwestern Nat. Ins. Co. of Milwaukee, WS.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gustave A. Fritchie, III (argued), McDonald Gustin Provosty, Irwin, Fritchie, Urquhart & Moore, James Lee Trinchard, Trinchard & Trinchard, New Orleans, LA, for Defendants-Appellees.