Richardson v. DouglassRichardson v. Douglass
Case Information
ORDERED in the Southern District of Florida on November 1, 2021.
Peter D. Russin, Judge United States Bankruptcy Court _____________________________________________________________________________ Tagged Opinion
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT LAUDERDALE DIVISION In re:
Case No. 20-23389-PDR Georgette Douglass,
Chapter 13
Debtor.
/ William Richardson, Plaintiff,
v. Adv. Case No. 21-01097-PDR Georgette Douglass,
Defendant.
/ ORDER GRANTING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS
Does an attorney, under
Background
Georgette Douglas (the “Debtor” or “Defеndant”) represented William Richardson (the “Plaintiff”) as his divorce attorney. See In re: Richardson v. Knight , No. FMCE-12-000129 (Fla. 17th Cir. Ct.) (the “Dissolution Case”). After the representation terminated, the Plaintiff sued the Defendant for professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duty arising out of the Defendant’s actions in the Dissolution Case. Richardson v. Douglass , No. CACE-2017-009437 (Fla. 17th Cir. Ct.) (the “Malpractice Case”). In the Malpractice Case, the Plaintiff allegеd that, despite the Plaintiff’s clear statement that he did not agree to the equalization payment included in the proposed Martial Settlement Agreement, the Defendant announced the terms and despite the lack of the required statement on the record or by affidavit by Plaintiff ascending to the agreement, the Defendant failed to prevent the state court from entering a final judgment including the disputed terms (the “Final Judgment of Dissolution”).
The Plaintiff retained new counsel and appealed the Final Judgment of Dissolution. On appeal, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal remanded the case for further proceedings because the state court “erred by accepting the oral [Marital Settlement Agreement] as valid and incorporating it into the [Final Judgment of Dissolution]” where “it was not based upon either parties’ testimony or sworn statements.” Richardson v. Knight , 197 So. 3d 143, 146 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). Following remand, the parties renegotiated the Marital Settlement Agreement – this time with the correct calculations for the disputed equalization payment – which stated that the Plaintiff was not obligated to make any equitable distribution and was to be refunded the full amount previously paid.
During the Malpractice Case, the Defendant was sanctioned for destroying exculpatory evidence and for failing to comply with a court order. The state court granted summary judgment in favor of the Plaintiff and entered two final judgments totaling $164,029.00 but did not specify whether it was granting relief based on the Plaintiff’s professional negligence or breach of fiduciary duty claim. Following the entry of the judgments in favor of the Plaintiff, the Defendant failed to comply with their terms and the Plaintiff sought a contempt order from the state court. Before the motion for contempt could be heard, the Defendant filed her voluntary Chapter 13 petition.
The Plaintiff initiated this adversary proceeding on March 22, 2021, alleging
Defendant’s debt is nondischargeablе under
Legal Standard
Analysis
The Plaintiff’s Complaint seeks a determination that the debt owed to the
Plaintiff is nondischargeable because it is a debt under Count I for fraud or
defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity under
I. Count I is dismissed with prejudice as to Malpractice Case allеgations and otherwise dismissed without prejudice.
Count I seeks relief under
A. Allegations Related to Actions During the Malpractice Case
At the outset, the Court notes that
In the Complaint, the Plaintiff asserts that the Defendant violated
B. “Fiduciary Capacity”
Whether a debtor was acting in a fiduciary capacity under
Circuits are split regarding whether an attorney, in the context of a standard
attorney-client relationship, acts in a “fiduciary capacity.” The Second and Seventh
Circuits, for instance, hold that the attorney-client relationship, although usually not
involving a technical or express trust, qualifies.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for
Visual Arts, Inc. v. Hayes (In re Hayes)
,
The Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits take a narrower view and conclude that
the attorney-client relаtionship, without more, does not cause an attorney to act in a
“fiduciary capacity” under
Though the Eleventh Circuit has not specifically addressed whether the
standard attorney-client relatiоnship places an attorney in a “fiduciary capacity”
under
The Eleventh Circuit’s approach more closely aligns with the Sixth, Ninth, and
Tenth Circuits and leaves no room for the Court to consider, like the Second and
Seventh Circuits, other possible factors such as power dynamics or generalized duties
of care. Instead, the Eleventh Circuit closely adheres to the Supreme Court’s strict
and narrow interpretation of the phrase “fiduciary capacity,” which is also consistent
with the general mandate to strictly construe all exceptions to discharge in favor of
the debtor.
See United States v. Mitchell (In re Mitchell)
,
The Plaintiff argues that a client entrusts his cause of action to the attornеy
and, in so doing, places the attorney in a “fiduciary capacity” under
Courts within the Eleventh Circuit have limited the finding of a technical trust
to circumstances where there is (1) a trust
res
;
[2]
(2) an identifiablе beneficiary; and (3)
affirmative trust duties established by contract or statute.
See Forrest
, 2021 WL
1784085, at *5 n. 37;
Recanati v. Roberts (In re Roberts)
,
A trust may be created by:
(1) Transfer of property to another person as trustee during the settlor's lifetime or by will or other disposition taking effect on the settlor's death; (2) Declaration by the owner of property that the owner holds identifiable property as trustee; or
(3) Exercise of a power of appointment in favor of a trustee.
See
Unlike the way a trustee controls trust property, an attorney has neither an ownership interest (technical or otherwise) in, nor the authority to control, a client’s cause of action. To the contrary, an attorney is generally prohibited from acquiring an interest in a client’s cause of action and “must abide by а client’s decisions concerning the objectives of representation, and … must reasonably consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued.” See Fla. Bar R. 4-1.2(a) & 4- 1.8(i). While a trustee holds property in trust and need not consider the beneficiaries wishes, an attorney merely advises a client with respect to the client’s cause of action and is dutybound to manage the cause of action based on the client’s decisions. As such, an attorney’s relationship to a client’s cause of action is distinct from a trustee’s relationship to trust property.
Though the management of a cause of action might burden an attorney with
significant and solemn duties to their client, it does not create the sort of technical
trust necessary to place a debtor in a “fiduciary capacity” under
Certainly, an attorney and a client can have a technical trust relationship, for example, when a client places funds in the attorney’s trust account. See Fla. Bar R. 4-1.15 & 5-1.2. Under such circumstances, the funds are segregated from the attorney’s business or personal account and held in an account owned by the attorney for the express benefit of the client. See Fla. Bar R. 5-1.1(a)(1) (“A lawyer must hold in trust, separate from the lawyer’s own property, funds and property of clients or third persons that are in a lawyer’s possession in connection with a representation.”). In effect, the client is both the settlor and beneficiary of the funds in the attorney’s trust account, and the attorney, as the trustee of those funds, is tasked with actually possessing the funds and holding them for the benefit of the client. These are the sort of circumstances that create a technical trust.
By contrast, the Defendant is merely alleged to have mismanaged a lawsuit and based on that error, the Plaintiff received a judgment against the Defendant. These allegations do not establish that the Defendant, like a trustee, possessed the cause of action and held it for the benefit of the Plaintiff. As a result, they are insufficient to support a finding that the Defendant acted in a “fiduciary capacity” when she disregarded the Plaintiff’s instructions and announced the Martial Settlement Agreement on the record in the Dissolution Case.
The Court further notes that, to whatever extent the Defendant might have
acted
as if
she were a fiduciary by making decisions with respect to the Plaintiff’s
cause of action without the Plaintiff’s permission, the Court cannot manufacture
some equitable remedy under
The facts as stated in the Complaint, therefore, fail to sufficiently allege a
cause of action under
II. Count II is dismissed without prejudice.
Accordingly, the Court ORDERS :
1. The Amended Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 14) is GRANTED IN PART . 2. Count I is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE to the extent that it relies on matters arising from the Malpractice Case.
3. The Complaint (Doc. 1) is otherwise
DISMISSED WITHOUT
PREJUDICE
. Count II is specifically dismissed without prejudice to the Plaintiff’s
ability to reraise his
4. The Plaintiff may file an amended complaint that includes his
# # #
Copies To:
Mason A. Pertnoy, Esq.
Jason Slatkin, Esq.
Jason Slatkin, Esq. is directed to serve this Order on all interested parties.
Notes
[1] All opinions issued by the Fifth Circuit in cases that were “submitted for decision” before October 1,
1981, are binding in the Eleventh Circuit.
See Bonner v. City of Prichard
,
[2] Most courts require that the trust
res
be segregated.
See, e.g.
,
Rodriguez v. Brown (In re Brown)
, No.
13-01407-EPK,
[3] The Florida Trust Code mirrors the Uniform Trust Code.
See Megiel-Rollo v. Megiel
,