Ferguson v. Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

69 P.3d 965 (2003)

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Ferguson v. Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

California Supreme Court
69 P.3d 965 (2003)

  • Written by Sharon Feldman, JD

Facts

A processing tower at a refinery owned by Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) (defendant) released toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Law firm Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP (Lieff) (defendant) filed a class-action lawsuit against Unocal. Other firms also sued Unocal. Casper, Meadows & Schwartz (Casper) sued on behalf of Brent Ferguson and Florencia Prieto (plaintiffs). The actions were consolidated. Lieff was designated co-lead class counsel. Lieff identified four potential classes, including a non-opt-out class for punitive damages. The parties agreed to, and the settlement master recommended, an $80 million settlement that required dismissal of the punitive-damages claims. Ferguson and Prieto objected to the settlement. The court approved the settlement and dismissed the punitive-damages claims, concluding that the public’s interest in punishing Unocal and deterring future misconduct had been achieved. Ferguson and Prieto received awards from the $80 million settlement. Ferguson and Prieto sued Lieff for malpractice. As compensatory damages, Ferguson and Prieto alleged the loss of a potential punitive-damages award. The court granted summary judgment to Lieff. The appellate court affirmed. The California Supreme Court granted review to determine whether lost punitive damages are recoverable in a legal-malpractice action.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Brown, J.)

Concurrence/Dissent (Kennard, J.)

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Casebooks

Advanced Tort Law

Key Terms

  • Class ActionA suit brought by one or more individuals, acting as representative parties, on behalf of all members of a much larger group, called a class. A class is normally the plaintiff in a case, but defendant class actions are permitted.
  • Compensatory DamagesDamages that are intended to compensate for actual injury or economic loss.
  • Punitive DamagesDamages awarded to the plaintiff over and above just compensation in order to punish the defendant and serve as a deterrent.
  • Proximate CauseA causal connection between one person's action and another person's injury that is sufficiently direct to impose legal liability on the actor.
  • Cause in FactThe causal link between an action and a result.
  • Legal MalpracticeAn action available to a party in a judicial proceeding against his or her legal counsel on the ground that the counsel has acted negligently. Legal malpractice may be an action based on contract law or tort law. To succeed on a legal malpractice claim, the plaintiff must prove that but for the counsel’s legal malpractice, he or she would have succeeded in the underlying action giving rise to the legal malpractice.

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