Legal Malpractice Statute Of Limitations At Issue

An argument before the Georgia Supreme Court scheduled for April 17

TITSHAW et al. v. GEER et al. (S23G1124)

Companies that operate Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurant franchises in Atlanta and Decatur and the companies’ majority owner are appealing lower courts’ rulings in a lawsuit claiming legal malpractice and breach of contract by two law firms.

David Titshaw, the majority owner and managing member of Taylor Investment Partners II, LLC, TIP II-Ansley, LLC, and TIP II-Suburban, LLC (known as the TIP entities), filed suit in Fulton County against Will B. Geer and the Law Office of Will B. Geer, LLC (Geer), and against Cohen Pollock Merlin Turner, P.C. (CPMT), who had advised Titshaw and the TIP entities to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which gave the franchisor grounds for termination of franchise agreements.

The trial court granted Geer’s and CPMT’s motions to dismiss the legal malpractice claims as barred by a four-year statute of limitation (Georgia Code § 9-3-25) but summarily denied motions to dismiss the breach of contract claims on the same grounds. On summary judgment, the trial court concluded that the same statute of limitation barred the breach of contract claim against Geer.

The Court of Appeals, Georgia’s intermediate appellate court, affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the appellants’ legal malpractice claims. The Court of Appeals also affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Geer and reversed the trial court’s denial of CPMT’s motion to dismiss, reasoning that the breach of contract claims were “duplicative” of the legal malpractice claims that were dismissed.

The Supreme Court of Georgia granted the appellants’ petition for certiorari, indicating it was particularly concerned with the following questions:
1. Did the Court of Appeals err in determining that because the claims for breach of contract are based upon the same conduct as the legal malpractice claim, the breach of contract claims are governed by the same statute of limitations as thelegal malpractice claim?
2. What statute of limitations governs a claim for breach of contract for legal services?

(Mike Frisch)