Reid Collins Defeats Motion to Dismiss $300M Legal Malpractice Claim

On July 28, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Brown Rudnick’s motion to dismiss a $300 million legal malpractice claim filed by the Litigation Trust for Lyondell Chemical Company. The Trust alleged that Brown Rudnick committed malpractice in its representation of the Trust when it botched the prosecution of a $300 million preference claim. Brown Rudnick moved to dismiss the complaint by arguing that its alleged failings were “strategy calls” and that any negligence on its part did not cause the Trust to lose the preference claim. The court rejected each of Brown Rudnick’s arguments. In so doing, the court held: “Considering the [amended complaint]’s allegations alongside Brown Rudnick’s proffered reasons for its litigation choices, there are, at minimum, questions of fact as to whether Brown Rudnick deliberately made such choices and whether those choices were reasonable.” The case will now proceed to discovery.

See order here.