Hiligh v. Sands

389 F. Supp. 3d 69
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJune 10, 2019
DocketCase No. 18-cv-2043 (CRC)
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 389 F. Supp. 3d 69 (Hiligh v. Sands) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hiligh v. Sands, 389 F. Supp. 3d 69 (D.C. Cir. 2019).

Opinion

CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER, United States District Judge

In January 1997, Wilbur Hiligh was seriously injured while working at a Federal *71Express facility in Washington, D.C. He retained a law firm, Duncan and Hopkins, P.C., to represent him in seeking remedy. In 2000, the firm filed a civil suit on his behalf but dismissed it after realizing it had sued the wrong defendants. Nearly two decades later, Hiligh has sued the firm and several of its attorneys, alleging malpractice. One Defendant, William S. Sands, Jr., moves for summary judgment, contending he was not Hiligh's lawyer at the time and thus could not have committed malpractice. The firm itself, along with one of its named partners, John C. Duncan, III, moves to dismiss the case or, in the alternative, asks for summary judgment, insisting that the three-year statute of limitations for Hiligh's legal malpractice claim elapsed long ago. Because Sands did not have an attorney-client relationship with Hiligh during the alleged malpractice, the Court will grant his motion. However, the Court will deny the other Defendants' motion because the statute of limitations was tolled while the firm continuously represented Hiligh through 2017.1

I. Background

The Court draws this background from the facts alleged in Hiligh's First Amended Complaint, which the Court must take as true at this early stage of the litigation. See, e.g., Sissel v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 760 F.3d 1, 4 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (citation omitted). In 1997, Mr. Hiligh worked at a Federal Express facility in Northwest Washington, D.C. First Amended Complaint ("FAC"), ECF No. 1-1, ¶¶ 3, 8. On January 31 of that year, while carrying a large package that obscured his line of sight, Hiligh stepped into a gap between a loading dock and an adjacent truck. Id. As a result, he suffered permanent injury to his vascular and sexual organs. Id. ¶¶ 9, 12. Hiligh alleges that the accident was caused by a defective "bridge plate," a device that connected the loading dock to adjacent trucks. Id. ¶¶ 7-9. The bridge plate at issue lacked certain features that allowed it to lay flat between the dock and the trucks. Id. ¶ 9. Hiligh fell because he incorrectly assumed that the dock, bridge plate, and truck together formed a flat surface with no gaps. Id.

Hiligh signed a written fee agreement with Duncan and Hopkins in January 1998. Id. ¶ 3. The firm's representation focused in part on Hiligh's workers' compensation claim, conducted through administrative proceedings under D.C. law. Id. ¶¶ 13-15; see generally D.C. Code §§ 32-1501 - 1545. Additionally, Duncan and Hopkins represented Hiligh as he contemplated a civil lawsuit arising from his injury. FAC ¶¶ 13, 16. On January 28, 2000, Duncan and Hopkins filed suit on Hiligh's behalf in District of Columbia Superior Court, seeking $ 5 million in damages stemming from his injury. Id. ¶ 23. The suit named as defendants Coakley & Williams Construction Company, Inc., the alleged general contractor for the loading dock, and Allstate Conveyor Service, the alleged designer of the bridge plate. Id. ¶ 24. As it turned out, Duncan and Hopkins had sued the wrong defendants, as neither Coakley & Williams nor Allstate were involved in the design or manufacture of the bridge plate. Id. ¶ 27. Hiligh's attorneys filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice in October 2000. Id. ¶ 31.

District of Columbia law imposes a three-year statute of limitations for Hiligh's civil claim. Id. ¶ 23; see also D.C. Code § 12-301. Because he was injured on January 31, 1997, any claim had to be filed *72by January 31, 2000. FAC ¶ 23. By the time his lawyers realized that the suit they had filed three days prior to this deadline named the incorrect defendants, the statute of limitations had lapsed. As a consequence, Hiligh was unable to file any suit against the actual installer or manufacturer. Id. ¶¶ 23, 30.

Hiligh alleges that, from the time he hired Duncan and Hopkins until it filed the suit, its attorneys failed to take appropriate action to investigate the proper defendants. Id. ¶¶ 18-23. Specifically, he asserts that they failed to visit the site of the accident to examine the bridge plate or consult publicly available records to determine who manufactured it. Id. ¶¶ 19-20. Hiligh contends that this failure violated "[t]he standard of care for similarly situated attorneys." Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
389 F. Supp. 3d 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hiligh-v-sands-cadc-2019.