Court Opinion

ID: 9762683
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:29:00.903875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:36.677698
License: Public Domain

FLAHERTY, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. Causes of action for legal malpractice should not be regarded as assignable. The decision of the majority erodes the longstanding rule that personal actions are not subject to assignment. See generally Guy v. Liederbach, 501 Pa. 47, 459 A.2d 744 (1983). Important policy considerations weigh against permitting the transfer of malpractice claims. These policies were aptly addressed in Goodley v. Wank & Wank, Inc., 62 Cal.App.3d 389, 133 Cal.Rptr. 83 (1976), wherein the California Court of Appeals held that a cause of action for legal malpractice was not assignable:
The assignment of such claims could relegate the legal malpractice action to the market place and convert it to a commodity to be exploited and transferred to economic bidders who have never had a professional relationship with the attorney and to whom the attorney has never owed a legal duty, and who have never had any prior connection with the assignor or his rights. The commercial aspect of assignability of choses in action arising out of legal malpractice is rife with probabilities that could only debase the legal profession. The almost certain end result of merchandizing such causes of action is the lucrative business of factoring malpractice claims which would encourage unjustified lawsuits against members of the legal profession, generate an increase in legal malpractice litigation, promote champerty and force attorneys to defend themselves against strangers. The endless complications and litigious intricacies arising out of such commercial activities would place an undue burden on not only the legal profession but the already overburdened judicial system, restrict the availability of competent legal services, embarrass the attorney-client relationship and imperil the sanctity of the highly confidential *528and fiduciary relationship existing between attorney and client.
62 Cal.App.3d at 397, 133 Cal.Rptr. at 87. Based upon the foregoing considerations of public policy, it should be held that the instant malpractice action cannot be maintained by one whose only interest therein is as an assignee.
This Dissenting Opinion joined by Mr. Chief Justice NIX.