Legal Malpractice

A disagreement between two Connecticut lawyers over a client referral fee led to a courtroom showdown that exposed tensions in how attorneys share cases. Donald M. Brown, an experienced attorney from Avon, sued Jill M. McGoldrick and her Milford-based law firm after she allegedly failed to pay him for handing over a personal injury client. The dispute centered on a verbal agreement that Brown said entitled him to a cut of the settlement, but McGoldrick disputed the deal's terms. The case dragged through the state's Superior Court for years, shining a light on the unwritten rules of professional referrals among lawyers.The trouble started in April 2018 when a man named Scott Cascella, who suffered a serious injury, hired Brown to handle his personal injury claim. Brown met Cascella in the hospital, signed a contingency fee agreement for one-third of any recovery, and began gathering records. Soon after, McGoldrick's office reached out, saying she met with Cascella and planned