Edelweiss (USA), Inc. v. Vengroff Williams & Associates, Inc.

Edelweiss (USA), Inc. (Edelweiss) (plaintiff) sold frozen poultry to a Russian buyer. Edelweiss hired Orient Overseas Container Line Limited (OOCLL) to transport the poultry from the United States to Russia in three shipments. For each shipment, when Edelweiss delivered the poultry to OOCLL for transport, OOCLL issued a bill of lading to Edelweiss. The bills of lading each identified the buyer as the consignee, meaning the party to take receipt of the shipment. Two of the bills of lading were nonnegotiable and one was negotiable. The buyer never paid for the poultry. Consequently, Edelweiss never provided the original bills of lading to the buyer. OOCLL nevertheless delivered each of the three shipments to the buyer without the buyer presenting the bill of lading. Edelweiss hired the collection agency Vengroff Williams & Associates, Inc. (Vengroff) (defendant) to recover the sales price of the poultry from OOCLL. When OOCLL refused, Vengroff hired an attorney, David Gold (defendant), to pursue legal action against OOCLL. However, Vengroff and Gold failed to file a claim against OOCLL within the statute-of-limitations period, prompting Edelweiss to sue them for malpractice. To succeed on the malpractice claim, Edelweiss needed to prove that it had a cause of action against OOCLL that would have been viable if asserted within the statute of limitations. The trial court granted summary judgment in Edelweiss’s favor. Vengroff appealed.