Risk Update

Side-switching Conflicts Allegations — SLAPP Malpractice, Med Billing Fraud

Posted Dan Bressler

“Court Rejects Carrington Coleman’s Legal-Mal Appeal in Case Hinged on Anti-SLAPP Law” —

  • “Signaling support for a ruling that said a Big Law firm can’t use the Texas anti-SLAPP law to dismiss a legal-malpractice lawsuit, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected review on an appeal by Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal.”
  • “Randy Ackerman, managing partner at Ackerman Law Firm in Houston who represented White Nile, said that hypothetically if the Supreme Court had taken the case and reversed the ruling, it would have ended all legal-malpractice cases in Texas. ‘If they are saying that the anti-SLAPP had stood, then this would have gone out the door, and this is a pure malpractice case: an attorney representing an entity, and then changing sides,” Ackerman said. ‘This was as pure a malpractice case as there ever was to be.'”
  • “In 2018, White Nile filed a lawsuit against Carrington Coleman for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy.”
  • “The basic allegation was that Carrington Coleman had a conflict of interest in representing both White Nile and its directors. White Nile claimed the firm didn’t fully investigate the company’s rights and failed to plead claims or defenses for the company. Among other things, Carrington Coleman failed to tell an independent governance board about conduct by the company directors that Carrington Coleman also represented.”
  • “On appeal, White Nile argued that the anti-SLAPP law wasn’t meant to dismiss legal-malpractice lawsuits that claim a lawyer had a conflict of interest between its clients. The law firm countered that the litigation centers around its statement or document in a judicial proceeding, and the Texas Citizens Participation Act should protect it.”

“Holland & Knight Accused Of Conflict In Med Billing Fraud Suit” —

  • “Holland & Knight LLP is ‘playing both sides’ in a $17 million personal injury protection fraud suit in Florida federal court, a defendant argued Monday, saying the firm is conflicted and must be disqualified.”
  • “Chintan Desai, a physician being sued along with several others by State Farm Automobile Insurance Co. and State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., said Holland & Knight, the plaintiffs’ counsel, is representing him in a separate but similar lawsuit and therefore should be disqualified.”
  • “Desai is named as a medical director at Path Medical. In his filing Monday, he said he retained the firm in November 2019 in a case involving his Florida company Radiology Imaging Specialists. The representation included the sharing of confidential client information, according to Desai.”
  • “‘The scope of this ongoing representation involves complaints and issues related to the practices and procedures employed in connection with my radiological interpretations of pathology demonstrated by patients receiving PIP benefits,’ the affidavit said. ‘I employ these same practices and procedures in connection with my role as a medical director for a Path Medical radiology clinic.'”
  • “‘Dr. Desai has not provided informed consent or otherwise waived his confidences, which Holland & Knight is obligated to protect,’ the motion said.”