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Legal Malpractice Law Keyed to Fortney, 3rd Ed.
Beck v. Wecht
Citation:
28 Cal. 4th 289, 48 P.3d 417, 121 Cal. Rptr. 2d 384 (2002)Facts
In 1992, Michael and Robert Stephens hired attorney Daniel Beck to represent them in a personal injury lawsuit against General Motors after they sustained serious injuries when their pickup truck rolled over and burst into flames. With the clients’ consent, Beck associated Texas attorney L.L. McBee, who had experience with “side-saddle” gas tank cases against GM. They later associated Ronald Wecht and his law firm as local trial counsel. By written agreement, McBee would advance all costs, and Beck’s contingent fee would be split 53% for McBee and 47% for Beck, with Wecht receiving 10% of the total fee to be shared pro rata from Beck and McBee’s portions. During trial in April 1997, GM offered to settle for $6 million. The night before closing arguments, the Stephenses told Wecht and McBee they wanted to settle, but McBee never contacted GM. The jury returned a defense verdict. Prior to and during trial, the relationship between Beck and the other attorneys deteriorated significantly, with Beck becoming merely “an observer, not a participant” by the time of trial.
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