David Parker Quoted in Bloomberg Law “Settle and Sue” Article

By Parker Mills on Jul 28, 2020

Article excerpt:

A petition expected this week will ask the California Supreme Court to settle a renewed debate in the legal malpractice sphere over the level of evidence required to bring a claim against an attorney following a settlement, known as “settle and sue.”

In a case decided in June, Masellis v. Jensen, a state appeals court considered whether a settle and sue plaintiff was held to a more demanding standard of proof than preponderance of the evidence, after a jury found that but for an attorney’s negligence, her client would have obtained a more favorable recovery…

…For plaintiff’s attorney David Parker of Parker Mills LLP in Los Angeles, it’s the pretrial application of “legal certainty” that makes the Masellis decision such a critical one.

“Legal certainty is a sound bite that other courts have used to resolve cases without thought, and the same mistake gets used over and over again,” Parker said. “What’s so pernicious about the legal certainty standard is it’s used to prevent cases from going to trial.”

For the entire article, go to https://bit.ly/2WZVjL5.