Law Firm to Pay $1.5M to Settle Claims That Ex-Associate Dropped Cases
A Connecticut plaintiffs firm has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle claims by two former clients that an ex-associate dropped the ball on their cases.
Ex-associate James Sullivan, who left the law firm of Kevin Maher and Scott Williams in 2007 to operate a ski resort in Vermont, allegedly told both clients that he was diligently pursuing their cases when, in fact, he wasn’t, reports the Connecticut Post.
Retained in one case to bring a tort claim on behalf of a family injured in a 1999 head-on collision, he filed suit in 2001 but did nothing further and didn’t tell the family it had been dismissed, the legal publication reports. In another 1999 matter, he is accused of telling a client doctor that he was pursuing disability insurance claims against two insurers and giving status dates on this purported litigation until 2006 although it was never filed.
Sullivan, who wasn’t present at a recent settlement hearing before Superior Court Judge Richard Arnold couldn’t be reached by the Post for comment. Williams declined to comment.
