United States Eighth Circuit

Summary judgment for defendant-law firm in a legal malpractice suit is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs-insurers' suit was barred by a state law barring malpractice suits by parties without a privity relationship with the attorneys; 2) a third party beneficiary exception did not apply; and 3) permitting plaintiffs to proceed, under principles of equitable subrogation, against the defendants would directly contravene relevant state law and public policy.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/31/2006
• Published 07/31/2006

Judges

• MURPHY, Circuit Judge., Before MURPHY, MELLOY, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Kent J. Rubens, argued, West Memphis, AR (Neil F. Freund, Leonard J. Bazelak, and Vaseem S. Hadi, Dayton, OH, on the brief), for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Philip E. Kaplan, argued, Little Rock, AR (Nate Coulter, Little Rock, AR, on the brief), for appellee.