November 12th, 2015

Lawrence M. Scott, a Michigan Super Lawyer® 2008-2015 with the law firm of O'Reilly Rancilio, P.C., scored another victory in the Michigan Court of Appeals in Rhodes v. John F. Schaefer, PLLC, on November 12, 2015 when the appellate court affirmed the granting of summary disposition to the defendant lawyers in a legal malpractice action brought by a disgruntled divorce plaintiff. The Court of Appeals held that the wife's case against her divorce counsel was barred by both the statute of limitations and discovery rule since it was filed more than two years after an amended judgment of divorce was entered by the trial court on December 17, 2010. The Court also held that another claim for alleged breach of fiduciary duty was merely a disguised action for legal malpractice and was also barred by the statute of limitations.

The Rhodes win caps a string of recent appellate victories for Scott in the Michigan Court of Appeals. See the full appellate opinions at http://www.michbar.org/file/opinions/appeals/2015/111215/61281.pdf and Israel v. Putrus, Court of Appeal Docket No. 316249, 2014 WL 5690511, full text opinion at http://www.michbar.org/opinions/appeals/2014/110414/58518.pdf, leave to appeal denied by the Michigan Supreme Court by Order entered April 28, 2015, see http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov:81/sct/public/orders/20150428_s150665_47_01_150665_2015-04-28_or.pdf. Scott successfully recovered $47,432 in vexatious appeal sanctions against the losing appellant and her counsel in the Israel v. Putrus case.

Categories: Press Room