D'Andrea v. Epstein, Becker, Green, Wickliff & Hall, P.C.

418 S.W.3d 791, 2013 WL 6698215, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 14961
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 12, 2013
DocketNo. 14-12-00494-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 418 S.W.3d 791 (D'Andrea v. Epstein, Becker, Green, Wickliff & Hall, P.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D'Andrea v. Epstein, Becker, Green, Wickliff & Hall, P.C., 418 S.W.3d 791, 2013 WL 6698215, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 14961 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

SUBSTITUTE OPINION

J. BRETT BUSBY, Justice.

We issued an opinion in this case on October 31, 2013, reversing the trial court’s summary judgment and remanding the case. Appellees subsequently filed a motion for rehearing. Without changing the disposition of the case, we deny the motion for rehearing, withdraw our previous opinion, and issue this substitute opinion.

In this attorney malpractice case, the plaintiffs are an individual, Mark A. D’Andrea, M.D., and various business entities of which D’Andrea is the self-described “de facto owner.” We refer to the business entities collectively as “Gulf Coast.” The defendants, attorney Stephen R. Cochell and the law firm of Epstein, Becker, Green, Wickliff & Hall, P.C. (collectively, “the firm”) represented Gulf Coast and D’Andrea in various matters. The plaintiffs assert claims against the firm for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, an unspecified intentional tort, and common-law fraud.

The representation at issue began when the firm prepared a “memo” at the request of Gulf Coast general counsel Kirk Kennedy that contained serious allegations against D’Andrea. The firm prepared the memo knowing Kennedy would soon be fired as general counsel, and it provided Kennedy with a copy of the memo after he had been fired. Kennedy’s possession of the memo ultimately caused D’Andrea and Gulf Coast considerable expense and frustration. This case began when both D’Andrea and Gulf Coast sued the firm for negligence and other claims.

The trial court granted the firm’s motion for final summary judgment based on specific grounds. The trial court granted summary judgment against D’Andrea’s claims on the following grounds: (1) D’An[794]*794drea was not a client of the firm as to the memo and lacked standing to assert the rights of Gulf Coast, so the firm owed him no duty, and all of his claims failed as a matter of law; and (2) though there was an attorney-client relationship between the firm and D’Andrea regarding the bankruptcy proceeding, there is no evidence that this proceeding was in any way related to the memo. We conclude that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on these grounds.

The trial court also granted summary judgment against Gulf Coast’s claims because it concluded that even if the firm’s preparation of the memo was negligent, Kennedy’s unforeseeable use of the memo broke the chain of proximate causation between this negligence and the harm to Gulf Coast. We disagree because there are fact questions regarding the foreseeability of harm to Gulf Coast. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

There has been considerable litigation about the memo. The trial court ordered the document sealed, and specific discussion of its contents is unnecessary to write a “cogent, meaningful opinion,” see R.V.K. v. L.L.K., 103 S.W.3d 612, 614 (Tex.App.San Antonio 2003, no pet.), so there will be no such discussion here. For our purposes, it suffices to say that much ink has been spilled and much money spent to keep the memo’s contents secret. We also note that D’Andrea describes the memo as “a big lie.”

The firm prepared the memo in 2009 at the request of Kennedy, Gulf Coast’s general counsel and corporate secretary at the time. A month before commissioning the memo, plaintiffs allege that Kennedy “secretly deposited” $412,000 belonging to Gulf Coast into an account under his sole control. He allegedly used $35,000 of the secreted funds to pay the firm’s retainer for preparing the memo.

Although Kennedy requested the memo, there is no contention that the firm prepared it for Kennedy personally. Indeed, when Gulf Coast later sought an injunction requiring Kennedy to turn over all copies of the memo, our sister court upheld a finding that Kennedy was not the firm’s client for purposes of the memo. See Kennedy v. Gulf Coast Cancer & Diagnostic Ctr. at Se., Inc., 326 S.W.3d 352, 358 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2010, no pet.).

The memo’s stated purpose was “to apprise the ... President and Board ... as to Gulf Coast’s potential ... exposure ... arising from Dr. D’Andrea’s alleged misconduct.” Thus, Gulf Coast was the firm’s client. Although the Gulf Coast entities had their own business structures and officers; D’Andrea testified that he was the “de facto owner” who “made the decisions” and “produced all [the] revenue” for all of the Gulf Coast entities. Attorney Stephen R. Cochell spearheaded the memo’s preparation for the firm while personally representing D’Andrea in unrelated litigation.1 Until its work was complete, the firm contacted no officers or directors of its client Gulf Coast other than Kennedy.

Kennedy’s largely unsubstantiated allegations against D’Andrea provided the factual basis for the opinions in the memo; the firm performed no independent investigation. As work on the memo progressed, the firm received indications that Gulf Coast would soon fire Kennedy or may have fired him already. The firm also received indications that Kennedy would use the memo in litigation against Gulf Coast. For example, Kennedy specifically asked that the firm’s memo inform Gulf [795]*795Coast’s president about a statute making it illegal to fire whistleblowers.

Notwithstanding the indications that Kennedy was adverse to its actual client, Gulf Coast, the firm emailed the memo to Kennedy. It also sent a copy to the president of Gulf Coast. Kennedy received the memo the day after Gulf Coast fired him for theft. Plaintiffs allege that once Kennedy got the memo, he “refused to return his copy ... and began showing it to lawyers and talking about the ‘[firm’s] investigation’ that purportedly found ‘wrongdoing.’ ” Kennedy allegedly “claim[ed] that he was fired because he obtained an outside opinion of wrongdoing.” Plaintiffs also allege that Kennedy “tried to use the memo to blackmail Gulf Coast into paying money that was not owed.” Plaintiffs assert that the memo “all but destroyed” D’Andrea’s practice.

Gulf Coast and D’Andrea sued the firm, alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, an unspecified intentional tort, and common-law fraud. The firm filed a traditional and no-evidence motion for summary judgment, contending that the plaintiffs should take nothing on their claims. The trial court granted the motion and signed an order specifying the reasons for its ruling, as discussed above. Gulf Coast and D’Andrea then filed this appeal.

Analysis

1. Standard of review

We review a trial court’s order granting summary judgment de novo. Merriman v. XTO Energy, Inc., 407 S.W.3d 244, 248 (Tex.2013). To defeat a no-evidence summary judgment, the non-movant must produce more than a scintilla of evidence establishing the existence of each challenged element of its claim or defense. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(i); Ford Motor Co. v. Ridgway, 135 S.W.3d 598, 600 (Tex.2004). To be entitled to a traditional summary judgment, the movant must demonstrate that no genuine issues of material fact exist and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Tex.R. Civ. P. 166a(c).

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Bluebook (online)
418 S.W.3d 791, 2013 WL 6698215, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 14961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dandrea-v-epstein-becker-green-wickliff-hall-pc-texapp-2013.