E. JOAN NICKOLAUSON, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF JOSEPH PAUL BOLVIN, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
JIMMIE HARRIS RHYNE, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1988-08-10
No. 87-2434
LEHAN and PARKER, JJ., concur.
529 So. 2d 365 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1988) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Appellant sued her attorney for legal malpractice in connection with estate probate services. The trial court dismissed the complaint for failing to allege an attorney-client relationship and breach of duty. The appellate court reversed, finding the complaint sufficiently alleged the elements of a legal malpractice claim.


Holding

The complaint sufficiently stated a cause of action for legal malpractice. The allegation that Nickolauson employed the Pratt firm to provide probate services and dealt exclusively with Rhyne was sufficient to allege privity and the attorney-client relationship. The details regarding Rhyne's relationship to the Pratt firm and to Nickolauson are matters to be determined from evidence at trial.


Headnotes

[1] A complaint for legal malpractice must allege the attorney's employment, the neglect of a reasonable duty, and that the neglect was the proximate cause of loss to the cli…

[2] A complaint sufficiently alleges privity when it states that a client dealt exclusively with an attorney acting on behalf of a law firm, even if it does not explicitly st…

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Key Quotes

“To plead a cause of action for legal malpractice the plaintiff must allege three elements: (1) the attorney's employment and (2) his neglect of a reasonable duty, which (3) is the proximate cause of loss to his client.”

Establishes the legal standard for pleading legal malpractice claims in Florida.

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Facts & Procedural History

Nickolauson employed the Pratt law firm to probate the will of Joseph Paul Bolvin and serve as attorneys for the estate. She dealt exclusively with Rh…

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Opinion of the Court
SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

Appellant, E. Joan Nickolauson, individually and as personal representative, sued appellee, Jimmie Harris Rhyne, for legal malpractice. The trial court dismissed her complaint with prejudice and she filed this appeal. We reverse.

In her complaint Nickolauson alleged that she employed the Pratt law firm in Manatee County to probate the will of the late Joseph Paul Bolvin and to serve as attorneys for the decedent’s estate. She alleged that thereafter she dealt exclusively with Rhyne, an attorney acting on behalf of the Pratt firm and that he negligently performed legal services. She claimed to have suffered certain losses as a direct and proximate result of Rhyne’s negligence and sought damages in excess of $5,000.

Rhyne filed a motion to dismiss which the trial court granted with leave to amend. When Nickolauson declined to amend, the trial court dismissed her complaint with prejudice stating:

1. The complaint failed to allege any agreement, contract or arrangement between the attorney Rhyne and the plaintiff.

2. The complaint failed to allege the breach of any duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, the breach of which caused or contributed to the plaintiff’s damages.

It is basic that a complaint setting forth a short and plain statement of the grounds upon which the court’s jurisdiction depends, the ultimate facts showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, and a demand for judgment is sufficient under Rule 1.110(b) Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. To plead a cause of action for legal malpractice the plaintiff must allege three elements: (1) the attorney’s employment and (2) his neglect of a reasonable duty, which (3) is the proximate cause of loss to his client. Hatcher v. Roberts, 478 So. 2d 1083, 1087 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985).

We think Nickolauson’s complaint sufficiently states a cause of action. In seeking to sustain the trial court’s ruling, Rhyne points out that the complaint lacks a direct and positive allegation that Nickolau-son employed Rhyne rather than the Pratt law firm. Rhyne suggests that to uphold the complaint would overlook the traditional requirement of privity. See, Angel, Cohen and Rogovin v. Oberon Investment, N.V., 512 So. 2d 192 (Fla.1987). We disagree. Here there is a sufficient allegation of privity, and it, like the attorney-client relationship, must be established before the client can recover. We think the details involving Rhyne’s relationship to the Pratt law firm and to Nickolauson are matters to be determined from the evidence.

Therefore, we reinstate Nickolauson’s complaint and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

LEHAN and PARKER, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Bill Branch Chevrolet, Inc. v. Philip L. Burnett, P.A., 555 So. 2d 455 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
    …verse. An action for legal malpractice must allege the employment of the attorney and neglect of a reasonable duty that has been the proximate cause of loss to his client. Thompson v. Martin, 530 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988); Nicholauson v. Rhyne, 529 So. 2d 365 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988). The complaint alleged that the appellant had employed Philip L. Burnett, P.A., and Philip Burnett, the appellees, in a litigation matter; that three weeks before trial, it discovered the appellees’ failure to investigate or condu…
  • Vergara v. Butter, 568 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
    …, appeals a final order dismissing his second amended complaint with prejudice. After review of the briefs and record herein, we concur with the trial court that the second amended complaint did not state a cause of action, see Nickolauson v. Rhyne, 529 So. 2d 365 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988), and that if any cause of action did exist, it would be barred by the statute of limitations. See § 95.11(4), Fla.Stat. (1989). The order under review is therefore affirmed.…

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