The PPW Royalty Trust v. Barton, No. 15-1464 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseThe Trusts filed suits in federal and state court over the course of two-and-a-half decades, claiming rights as the beneficiaries, successors, or assigns of the owners of coal mining royalty interests in Kentucky. In this case, the Trusts sued their former attorneys, alleging legal malpractice based on the adverse outcome of one of these cases. The district court dismissed the complaint. The court rejected the Trusts' assertion that the attorneys committed malpractice by failing to raise preclusion arguments based on the outcome of a prior case. The court agreed with the district court that the proffered argument would not have changed the outcome in Willits II. The court concluded that the Trusts have not stated a malpractice claim based on failure to press this preclusion theory in Willits II. The court also rejected the Trusts' assertion that the attorneys committed malpractice by failing to raise certain constitutional arguments at an earlier phase. The court agreed with the district court that the constitutional arguments lack merit. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Colloton, Author, with Gruender and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Legal malpractice. Claim that the defendant attorneys committed legal malpractice by failing to raise issue preclusion was properly rejected as the issue decided in the second case was not actually decided or necessary to the decision in the first case, and the attorneys did not commit malpractice by failing to advance the issue preclusion argument in the second case; argument that the attorneys committed legal malpractice by failing to raise a claim preclusion argument rejected; claim that the attorneys committed legal malpractice by failing to raise a constitution-based judicial takings claim rejected.
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