Rice v. Poppe, 302 Neb. 643

Brenda Rice and Dale Rice divorced in 2011; Terrance Poppe represented Brenda and prepared the property settlement and decree.
Poppe’s intake notes listed "life insurance" with a “0” (indicating Rice said there was no life insurance issue); Rice said she did not recall discussing life insurance and believed she remained beneficiary of Dale’s policies.
The decree’s property settlement awarded each party all life insurance policies in their own name and contained broad waiver/release language relinquishing claims against the other’s property.
About one week after the decree, Dale died; his children contested Rice’s claim to the death benefits and the courts held Rice had waived beneficiary rights under the settlement.
Rice sued Poppe for legal malpractice alleging he failed to advise her that the settlement would waive her beneficiary interest; at bench trial the district court found for Poppe, and the Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Rice’s failure to disclose existence/beneficiary status of Dale’s life insurance broke causal link in malpractice claim	Rice: Poppe failed to advise waiver effect; she did not know policies would be lost	Poppe: Rice didn’t tell him about the policies; her nondisclosure prevented him from protecting her interest	Held for Poppe — district court reasonably found Rice’s nondisclosure negated proximate causation
Whether Poppe breached standard of care in drafting/including boilerplate life-insurance and waiver language	Rice: Expert Koenig said including boilerplate without explaining consequences breached the standard	Poppe: Expert Ballew testified Poppe complied with standard; boilerplate was common and appropriate	Held for Poppe — court found expert for Poppe more persuasive; no breach proven

Balames v. Ginn, 290 Neb. 682, 861 N.W.2d 684 (2015) (client negligence can bar malpractice recovery where it contributes to attorney's inability to meet standard of care and proximately causes injury)
Mays v. Midnight Dreams, 300 Neb. 485, 915 N.W.2d 71 (2018) (bench-trial review standards cited)
Home Pride Foods v. Johnson, 262 Neb. 701, 634 N.W.2d 774 (2001) (appellate review deference to trial court factual findings in bench trials)
Rice v. Poppe, 293 Neb. 467, 881 N.W.2d 162 (2016) (prior summary judgment reversal in same malpractice litigation)
Rice v. Webb, 287 Neb. 712, 844 N.W.2d 290 (2014) (precedent on effect of settlement/decree on life insurance beneficiary claims)