Scott v. Chuhak & Tecson, P.C.

In action by plaintiff-beneficiary of certain trusts alleging that defendant-law firm committed legal malpractice by failing to disclose terms of certain family trusts and failed to make certain distributions, Dist. Ct. did not err in imposing sanctions on plaintiff for violating terms of protective order that precluded parties from disclosing privileged documents to third parties. Record showed that plaintiff’s counsel disclosed said documents during deposition of plaintiff’s representative, which was also attended by different attorney for plaintiff, who had been retained to represent plaintiff in similar state-court action against defendant. Protective order clearly precluded said disclosure, where order contained directive that parties could not use privileged documents produced by defendant for “any other litigation.” Moreover, instant sanction that immediately closed discovery that was scheduled to close four business days later was reasonable. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s motion for partial summery judgment, where plaintiff conceded that defendant had given her 18-page summary of certain trust assets, which precluded her from establishing that defendant had failed to inform her of her rights under said trusts.