Legal Malpractice

In a significant victory for professional accountability, a Torrington jury found that Attorney William Anderson and his associated law firms failed to meet the standard of care required in a trademark litigation matter. The dispute began when Paolo Pavano hired Anderson in 2018 to protect his business, "Paul's Cutting Edge Lawn Care," from infringement. However, the underlying lawsuit was dismissed in 2021 after a series of procedural errors, including allegations that the attorneys failed to sue the correct parties or bring the action in the proper Court. While the defense argued they had acted appropriately, the jury ultimately sided with the Plaintiffs, awarding over $204,000 in damages to compensate for the lost legal opportunity.

A Hartford Superior Court jury awarded Michelle Pollard $350,000 in economic damages after finding that her former attorney John Sodipo and Sodipo Law Group, P.C. committed legal malpractice. Pollard hired Sodipo to represent her following a 2012 rear-end collision, but he failed to file a timely underinsured motorist claim against GEICO, leaving her unable to recover additional compensation for her injuries.

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