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Grappling With Liability Issues For Entertainment Attorneys
Attorneys are faced with a variety of potential liability issues in handling matters for clients. Malpractice insurance can help, but such policies don't eliminate the raising of liability claims. These claims may include disqualification of counsel based on alleged adverse interests of clients, malpractice allegations based on transactional and litigation work and the threat of Rule 11 sanctions.
The entertainment business presents its own lawyer liability concerns. For example, last December, singer Michael Bolton filed a $30 million suit in New York state court alleging conflicts of interest by Weil, Gotshal & Manges, his law firm in a song infringement suit filed against Bolton by the Isley Brothers. (Bolton claims that Weil Gotshal was influenced by his music publisher's insurer, which purportedly paid the firm's fees to go to trial, rather than settle, thus triggering an indemnification provision in Bolton's publishing contract. Bolton lost the infringement suit.)
For transactional lawyers, a fundamental concern is to what extent clients may attribute the results of particular negotiations to the work of their counsel. The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate Division, Division Seven, recently held that the former owners of Dove Audio failed to present substantial evidence of causation in fact that, if not for the alleged negligence of their lawyers, they would have obtained a better deal when they sold their company. Viner v. Sweet, 117 Cal. App. 4th 1218 (2004).
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