Stanley v. TrinchardStanley v. Trinchard
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H. S. STANLEY, JR., in his capacity as Trustee of the Bankruptcy Estate of Gary Eugene Hale, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CLARE W. TRINCHARD, ETC., ET AL., Defendants, NORTHWESTERN NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, Defendant-Appellee.
Before KING, WIENER, and OWEN, Circuit Judges.
WIENER, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff-Appellant H.S. Stanley, trustee for the bankruptcy estate of Gary Eugene Hale, appeals from separate orders of the district court granting summary judgments (1) for Defendants-Appellees Clare Trinchard, Trinchard & Trinchard LLC, and their errors and omissions insurer, Clarendon National Insurance Company (“the Trinchard defendants“), on the estate‘s legal malpractice claim, and (2) for Hale‘s erstwhile liability insurer, Defendant-Appellee Northwestern National Insurance Company (NNIC), on the estate‘s claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. Stanley contends that the district court erred in ruling that (1) Hale‘s bankruptcy discharge eliminated any compensable damages that may have resulted from the Trinchard defendants’ alleged malpractice, and (2) Stanley failed to allege conduct by NNIC that would constitute a breach of an insurer‘s duty of good faith and fair dealing
I. FACTS & PROCEEDINGS
A. Background
The instant case stems from the criminal investigation and prosecution of Gerald Burge for the murder of Douglas Frierson in 1980. Burge was indicted for and convicted of Frierson‘s murder based in part on an investigation conducted by Hale when he was a detective in the St. Tammany Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff‘s Office (“the Sheriff‘s Office“).1 Several years after Burge was convicted, however, potentially exculpatory evidence was discovered (specifically, several of Hale‘s investigative reports) that had not been disclosed to the defense at or before Burge‘s trial. Burge was granted a new trial, which resulted in his acquittal on all charges.
While awaiting his new trial, Burge had filed a
B. NNIC‘s Insurance Coverage
In 1980, American Druggists’ Insurance Company (ADIC) issued a liability insurance policy (“the original ADIC Policy“) to the Louisiana Sheriffs Association.3 This policy was renewable for 12-month terms and (if renewed) would remain in effect until September 1, 1983. It specified a coverage limit of $100,000 per occurrence.4 ADIC subsequently issued an amended policy (“the amended ADIC Policy“), which restated the same terms and coverage period as the original ADIC Policy but increased the coverage limit to $1,000,000. The original ADIC Policy was marked “cancelled flat.” The amended ADIC Policy indicated in a notation on the Declarations Page and in an amending endorsement that the effective date for the new $1,000,000 coverage limit was September 1, 1981, not the original commencement date of September 1, 1980. When ADIC became insolvent in 1986, its reinsurer, NNIC, assumed
In the Burge litigation, NNIC filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal, because the ADIC policies’ coverage ended on September 1, 1983, and Burge‘s alleged injury did not “occur” until he was indicted in November 1983, or possibly until he was convicted in 1986. NNIC also asked the court to rule that the coverage limit applicable to any misconduct by Hale was $100,000, as specified in the original ADIC Policy, because his employment with the Sheriff‘s Office ended in the summer of 1981, before the $1,000,000 coverage limit in the amended ADIC Policy went into effect on September 1 of that year.
The district court denied NNIC‘s motion, ruling that the issues raised by NNIC were “hotly disputed” and worthy of full development at trial.6 The coverage issue centered on whether the ADIC policies’ definition of a covered “occurrence” was broad enough to encompass all conduct related to the Frierson murder investigation, including both Hale‘s actions while he was employed as a detective with the Sheriff‘s Office and his post-employment conduct during Burge‘s murder trial in 1986. The coverage limit issue concerned, inter alia,
C. NNIC‘s Settlement with Burge
NNIC initially retained attorney Clare Trinchard to determine whether the ADIC policies provided coverage for the alleged misconduct of the Sheriff and his personnel. After receiving her review of the case, NNIC retained the Trinchard firm to represent the Sheriff, Hale, and NNIC in the Burge litigation. Later, after deciding to dispute coverage under the ADIC policies, NNIC instructed the Trinchard firm to continue representing the Sheriff and Hale individually but retained separate counsel to represent NNIC‘s interests.
In November 2000, shortly before the Burge litigation was to be tried, the Trinchard firm and NNIC‘s counsel negotiated a partial settlement with Burge. In exchange for $75,000, Burge agreed to (1) release NNIC fully from all liability under the ADIC policies and (2) release the Sheriff and Hale from liability,
In January 2001, on the advice of the Trinchard defendants, Hale consented to the Burge settlement and signed a separate “Release and Acknowledgment” absolving that firm‘s former client, NNIC, from “any and all liability” under the ADIC policies, including “claims for indemnification, defense, legal fees and costs, [and] bad faith.” The release itself did not specify the terms of the Burge settlement, particularly Burge‘s reservation of his right to sue Hale for conduct occurring outside of the ADIC policies’ coverage period. After obtaining Hale‘s release of NNIC, the Trinchard defendants terminated their representation of Hale and the Sheriff.
D. The Burge Trial and Hale‘s Bankruptcy Proceedings
Burge‘s remaining claims against the Sheriff and Hale were tried in May 2001. The Sheriff was represented by other counsel, but Hale decided to represent himself, possibly believing that the only liability he faced post-settlement was for punitive damages, which he believed to be, at most, a remote possibility. After a jury verdict for Burge, the court entered judgment against
The following month, Burge forced Hale into involuntary bankruptcy in Mississippi. As the appointed trustee of Hale‘s bankruptcy estate, Stanley filed the instant action against the Trinchard defendants9 and NNIC in the district court in April 2002, alleging that (1) the Trinchard defendants were negligent in their representation of Hale and (2) NNIC breached its fiduciary duty of good faith and fair dealing in its settlement of the Burge litigation. Hale was discharged in the bankruptcy proceeding in December 2002, and neither Stanley as trustee nor Burge as Hale‘s only creditor contested the discharge.
E. District Court Proceedings
The Trinchard defendants and NNIC each filed a motion for summary judgment in the district court. The court granted both motions, concluding that (1) Hale‘s bankruptcy discharge made it impossible for Stanley to show that any damages resulted from the Trinchard defendant‘s alleged malpractice and (2) Stanley did not allege conduct by NNIC that would constitute a breach of the
II. ANALYSIS
A. Legal Malpractice Claim
1. Standard of Review
We review a district court‘s summary judgment ruling de novo, applying the same standard as the district court.10
2. Merits
Federal bankruptcy law determines the extent of a debtor‘s bankruptcy estate.11 Such an estate comprises all “legal or equitable interests [of the debtor] in property as of the commencement of the [bankruptcy] case,” which includes any “causes of action belonging to the debtor at the time the case is commenced.”12 “A debtor‘s pre-petition rights in property, such as a cause of action, are determined according to state law.”13 The trustee of a debtor‘s bankruptcy estate may pursue any claims that are property of the bankruptcy
In this case, the record makes clear that a cause of action against the Trinchard defendants for legal malpractice, if cognizable, accrued to Hale no later than September 2001, when the judgment against him became final and Burge‘s attorney suggested to Hale that he might have a viable malpractice claim.16 As Hale was forced into bankruptcy in October 2001, his potential malpractice claim had accrued prior to the commencement of his bankruptcy proceedings and thus (1) became part of his bankruptcy estate, and (2) could be asserted by Stanley as trustee of Hale‘s bankruptcy estate. The district court acknowledged these facts, but ultimately concluded that Stanley‘s legal
a. McClarty v. Gudenau
We first address the Trinchard defendants’ request that we apply the holding of a Michigan Bankruptcy Court in McClarty v. Gudenau, 176 B.R. 788 (E.D. Mich. 1995).17 In McClarty, a Chapter 7 trustee brought a legal malpractice suit against an attorney who had represented the debtor in a lawsuit stemming from a pre-petition car accident. The malpractice suit alleged that the attorney‘s negligence caused the debtor to incur a judgment in excess of her insurance policy limits.18 The trial court found that “[the trustee] will be unable to prove damages in the amount of the excess judgment because the Debtor, in whose shoes [the trustee] stands, no longer owes this debt as a result of her discharge.”19 The court based its ruling on the interrelation of
The district court declined to apply McClarty in this case, however, recognizing that our decisions in In re Edgeworth, 993 F.2d 51 (5th Cir. 1993)22 and In re Segerstrom, 247 F.3d 218 (5th Cir. 2001)23 established that a bankruptcy discharge eliminates only the debtor‘s personal liability and not the debt itself. Accordingly, the court ruled that summary judgment for the Trinchard defendants “based on Hale‘s discharge” was not warranted. We agree with that ruling.
In Segerstrom, a Chapter 7 trustee brought suit against a debtor‘s attorney for legal malpractice and against the debtor‘s liability insurer for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract.24 The district court, citing McClarty,
[T]he district court determined that [the trustee] would be unable to prove any damages because Segerstrom‘s personal liability to the [judgment creditors] had been discharged. [citing McClarty]. We do not adopt the district court‘s holding. In In re Edgeworth, this Court held that a discharged debt “continues to exist” and judgment creditors “may collect from any other source that may be liable.” We noted in Edgeworth that the bankruptcy code‘s fresh start policy was not intended to allow insurers to escape obligations simply based on the “financial misfortunes of the insured.” Though Edgeworth does not control the present case . . . its rationale could be extended to include cases like this one. [I]t makes little sense to allow those who have committed torts to escape liability because of the financial misfortunes of their victims. Moreover, allowing a cause of action to go forward on the facts of this case would not threaten financial harm to the debtor, thus the primary purpose behind the discharge would be protected.26
The Trinchard defendants insist that even though the Segerstrom court endorsed the rationale of Edgeworth, that rationale does not apply to the facts of this case, because (1) Edgeworth involved a nominal suit against the debtor to recover from the debtor‘s liability insurer; (2) the liability insurer in
That the facts of the instant case thus differ from those operative in Edgeworth is of no moment here. As the district court recognized, Segerstrom presented facts “on all four corners” with the instant case, and we acknowledged that Edgeworth was not directly controlling precedent.27 We also acknowledged in Segerstrom, however, that the rationale for Edgeworth‘s holding could properly be extended to cases such as this one. We accept that we are not bound, in the strictest sense, to follow the path laid out in Segerstrom, but we see no compelling reason not to do so. We remain convinced that (1) it would be improper to excuse the malpractice liability of a potentially negligent attorney because of the “financial misfortunes” of his client/tort victim; and (2) allowing a legal malpractice cause of action to go forward despite the purported tort victim‘s bankruptcy discharge would not threaten “the primary purpose behind the discharge,” i.e, avoiding financial harm to the debtor.28 Accordingly, we reject the rationale of McClarty and hold that Stanley, as trustee for Hale‘s
b. Louisiana Law
Even though the district court rejected McClarty and accepted Segerstrom as controlling, it nevertheless granted the Trinchard defendants’ motion for summary judgment “pursuant to Louisiana law,” expressing reasons that we cannot distinguish from those employed by the court in McClarty. This was error.
Under Louisiana law, a plaintiff asserting a legal malpractice claim must prove “(1) the existence of an attorney-client relationship; (2) negligent representation by the attorney; and (3) loss caused by that negligence.”29 The district court recognized that Hale and the Trinchard defendants had an attorney-client relationship and that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the Trinchard defendants represented Hale negligently. The court ruled, however, that Stanley could not prove the third element of legal malpractice, i.e, that the Trinchard defendants’ allegedly negligent representation caused Hale any loss or damage. Specifically, the court determined that, as Hale‘s bankruptcy discharge extinguished his personal
In reaching this conclusion, the district court relied in part on the Louisiana Supreme Court‘s decision in Costello v. Hardy.30 In Costello, the plaintiff alleged that the defendants committed legal malpractice by failing to include a provision establishing an annual income for her in her son‘s will. The plaintiff had earlier filed a nullity action in her son‘s succession proceedings, alleging that the will was invalid. The plaintiff eventually dismissed the nullity action in exchange for a $25,000 annual stipend from her deceased sons‘s estate. Following this settlement, the trial court dismissed the legal malpractice action, reasoning that, because the settlement reached in the nullity action provided the plaintiff with the same economic benefit that she would have received had her son‘s will included the omitted provision, the plaintiff could no longer show that
Costello is distinguishable from the instant case for one obvious reason: Unlike the plaintiff in Costello, Hale never asserted a legal malpractice claim. In Costello, once the nullity action was settled, the plaintiff could no longer show that she suffered damages from the defendants’ actions and was therefore unable to make out her malpractice case. In contrast here, Hale‘s accrued but unasserted malpractice claim automatically devolved to his bankruptcy estate when involuntary bankruptcy proceedings were commenced in October 2001. At that point, Stanley, as trustee of the estate for the benefit of its creditors, became responsible, ipso facto, for satisfying that judgment, to the extent possible from the property of Hale‘s bankruptcy estate; and Hale‘s inchoate legal malpractice claim against the Trinchard defendants was property of the estate.32
In relying on Costello, the district court seems to have misapprehended the effect of the rule establishing that a debtor‘s bankruptcy estate includes any causes of action that had accrued to him as of the time the bankruptcy case has commenced.33 Adherence to this rule requires that our assessment of the estate‘s malpractice claim focus only on Hale‘s financial condition at the instant bankruptcy proceedings were initiated. The record makes clear that, when Hale‘s bankruptcy proceedings commenced, he was a multi-million dollar judgment debtor, but he had not paid any portion of that debt. If Hale‘s unpaid judgment debt was the result of compensable malpractice, however, the cause of action to recover damages from the tortfeasors devolved to the bankruptcy estate immediately on the initiation of Hale‘s bankruptcy proceedings in October 2001. Hale‘s subsequent discharge from personal liability through the bankruptcy proceedings is irrelevant.
c. Judgment Rule
In Wooten, a bankruptcy debtor had been involved in a pre-petition car accident that resulted in a $15,000 judgment against him.37 His liability insurer was responsible only for $5,000, the policy limit.38 The trustee of the debtor‘s bankruptcy estate filed suit against the liability insurer for violating the duty
The Trinchard defendants contend that Wooten is inapposite here, because (1) it involved indemnity by an insurance company and not legal malpractice, and (2) the debtor in Wooten had not been discharged from liability on the judgment. The Trinchard defendants add that neither had the debtors in the other “judgment rule” cases cited by Stanley been discharged from the judgments against them. Stanley responds that our acceptance of the Trinchard
We first address the Trinchard defendants’ effort to distinguish the judgment-rule cases cited by Stanley from the instant case on the basis of Hale‘s discharge from personal liability for the judgment against him. That distinction is irrelevant to our analysis, which must focus only on the injury that Hale had suffered at the time bankruptcy proceedings commenced. If the adverse judgment against Hale amounted to a compensable legal injury at the time the bankruptcy proceedings commenced, Stanley may pursue a legal malpractice claim on behalf of Hale‘s bankruptcy estate, regardless of Hale‘s subsequent discharge.
Like Stanley, we recognize that Louisiana courts have not addressed the judgment rule in the context of a legal malpractice claim, but that lacuna does not compel our rejection of the rule here. As no Louisiana case is directly on point, we must make an “Erie-guess” and predict how a Louisiana court would
We reach this conclusion for several reasons. First, we note the Wooten court‘s adherence to the “general rule” that an injured plaintiff may seek to “recover for breach-caused loss for which he is liable to a third person . . . whether or not the damaged person has actually paid the loss incurred by reason of the breach.”45 We see Louisiana‘s acceptance of this rule not only in Wooten, but also in cases allowing plaintiffs to pursue claims for property damage, albeit they have made no repairs;46 likewise for medical
We note further that both the Texas and Virginia supreme courts have adopted the judgment rule in the legal malpractice context. In Montfort v. Jeter, the Texas Supreme Court held that “a judgment injures [the plaintiff] while it remains unpaid. His credit is affected. A lien attaches to his land. His non-exempt property is constantly subject to sudden execution and forced sale. He is entitled to relief from harm if it is the fault of the tortfeasor.”49 Likewise, in Shipman v. Kruck, the Virginia Supreme Court overruled its prior decisions adhering to the “payment rule” and recognized that “a client who suffers the entry of a judgment against him indeed suffers a legal injury or damage” sufficient to support a legal malpractice claim.50 Virginia‘s highest court
[t]here is little remote, speculative, or contingent about a money judgment. Indeed, it is a legal creature of singular dignity. Such a judgment calls into existence what did not exist before, viz., a liquidated debt. Except for jurisdictional defect, that judgment and the debt it creates cannot be collaterally attacked and is actionable in every state. The recorded judgment constitutes a continuing lien (securing the debt and the interest as it accrues) on the debtor‘s assets (presently owned and later acquired), a lien that is enforceable by public sale. Subject to the statute of limitations, the debt survives the debtor‘s death and may be revived against his personal representative.52
We agree with the reasoning of these cases and add to it the reasoning behind the more general policy issue addressed by Stanley, i.e., that the viability of a legal malpractice claim should not depend on the ability of the victim to satisfy all or part of a judgment against him. We do not believe that Louisiana would adopt a rule that would require its courts to recognize the legal malpractice cause of action of a solvent claimant but reject an otherwise identical action brought by a claimant forced by that very malpractice to seek bankruptcy protection. Such a rule would produce anomalous results
Accordingly, we hold that, at the time bankruptcy proceedings commenced, Hale had incurred a legal injury —— in the form of an adverse money judgment —— sufficient to allow Stanley to assert a legal malpractice claim against the Trinchard defendants on behalf of Hale‘s bankruptcy estate and that Hale‘s subsequent discharge from personal liability for that judgment had no effect on the right and duty of the trustee to pursue that claim. The district court erred, therefore, in dismissing Stanley‘s legal malpractice claim against the Trinchard defendants based on its flawed conclusion that Hale suffered no compensable injury.
Undeterred, the Trinchard defendants also contend that Stanley, as trustee, cannot maintain a legal malpractice claim against them because he never entered into an attorney-client relationship with the Trinchard firm, and legal malpractice actions are not assignable in Louisiana. This is an argument that was credited by the Michigan Bankruptcy Court in McClarty.53 Stanley counters that federal bankruptcy law —— specifically, placing the trustee in the shoes of the debtor —— trumps state laws prohibiting the assignment of legal malpractice claims. We agree.
state law determines only whether a cause of action accrued to the debtor as of the commencement of the bankruptcy case. Once that determination has been made, federal law controls whether a trustee can maintain the cause of action on behalf of the bankruptcy estate. Federal law provides that when a legal malpractice cause of action has accrued to a debtor as of the commencement of the bankruptcy case, it becomes part of the debtor‘s bankruptcy estate.56
We then held that, “[s]ince [the defendant] has provided no tenable basis in federal law for withholding [the debtor‘s] legal malpractice claim from her bankruptcy estate, we conclude that the estate can pursue the claim.”57 Several other circuits have held that “state laws restricting the transfer or assignment
The Trinchard defendants also urge that the decision of Stanley as trustee and Burge as Hale‘s judgment creditor not to object to Hale‘s discharge constituted waivers of any claims that they would have against the Trinchard defendants. They note that, under
B. Breach of the Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
1. Standard of Review
A district court‘s summary judgment ruling is reviewed de novo, applying the same standard as the district court.59
2. Merits
In granting summary judgment in favor of NNIC, the district court concluded that Stanley failed to create a genuine issue of material fact whether NNIC breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing, as defined by Louisiana law.60 Stanley contends that the district court erred by treating the specific violations of the insurer‘s duty of good faith and fair dealing enumerated in
(A) An insurer, including but not limited to a foreign line and surplus line insurer, owes to his insured a duty of good faith and fair dealing. The insurer has an affirmative duty to adjust claims fairly and promptly and to make a reasonable effort to settle claims with the insured or the claimant, or both. Any insurer who breaches these duties shall be liable for any damages sustained as a result of the breach.
(B) Any one of the following acts, if knowingly committed or performed by an insurer, constitutes a breach of the insurer‘s duties imposed in Subsection A:
(1) Misrepresenting pertinent facts or insurance policy provisions relating to any coverages at issue.
(2) Failing to pay a settlement within thirty days after an agreement is reduced to writing.
(3) Denying coverage or attempting to settle a claim on the basis of an application which the insurer knows was altered without notice to, or knowledge or consent of, the insured.
(4) Misleading a claimant as to the applicable prescriptive period.
(5) Failing to pay the amount of any claim due any person insured by the contract within sixty days after receipt of satisfactory proof of loss from the claimant when such failure is arbitrary, capricious, or without probable cause.61
In Theriot v. Midland Risk Ins. Co., the Louisiana Supreme Court concluded that the first sentence of section (A) “recognizes the jurisprudentially established duty of good faith and fair dealing owed to the insured, which is an outgrowth of the contractual and fiduciary relationship between the insured and
NNIC contends that the district court did not base its ruling on the fact Stanley failed to allege conduct specifically proscribed by
We do not end our inquiry here, however. We “may affirm summary judgment on any legal ground raised below, even if it was not the basis for the district court‘s decision.”68 We must therefore determine whether ——
Stanley contends that Louisiana‘s implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing does make actionable NNIC‘s conduct, as alleged in his complaint. Stanley‘s complaint lists ten specific acts by NNIC that purportedly violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing. The first five acts alleged involve NNIC‘s failure to provide adequate representation to Hale in the Burge litigation,
NNIC insists that it has no legal duty to prevent an attorney‘s malpractice or monitor possible conflicts of interest. Indeed, Segerstrom seems to support this position. In Segerstrom, as here, a Chapter 7 trustee brought a claim of legal malpractice against the debtor‘s attorney and a claim of breach of fiduciary duty against the debtor‘s insurer.70 The claim against the insurer was based on the attorney‘s “alleged conflict of interest in representing all three defendants.”71 We affirmed summary judgment in favor of the insurer, stating
Even assuming that [the attorney‘s] representation of all three defendants in the [] litigation created a conflict of interests, [the trustee] points to no authority in Texas law suggesting that an insurer‘s duty of reasonable care requires the insurer to independently identify conflicts and take steps to address them prior to or at the same time as appointing legal counsel.72
Likewise, Stanley has pointed to no Louisiana law suggesting such a duty should apply to NNIC in this case.
Obviously, the parties’ disagreement on this issue is intertwined with their unresolved factual disputes over the ADIC policy limits and coverage period.74 As noted earlier, the district court concluded —— and we agree —— that genuine issues of material fact exist regarding these disputes. As any determination whether NNIC breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing thus depends on first resolving these fact issues, the district court erred in dismissing, at the summary judgment stage, Stanley‘s claim based on NNIC‘s purportedly bad-faith settlement conduct.
Hale also stated in his deposition, however, that (1) he was never told about the potential for $1,000,000 in coverage, and (2) he was assured by the Trinchard defendants that the Burge settlement would satisfy all of Burge‘s demands for compensatory damages, including any related to Hale‘s actions
In light of the parties’ competing and untested factual allegations, we are satisfied that material fact issues remain. This precludes summary judgment dismissal of Stanley‘s claim based on NNIC‘s purported bad-faith misrepresentation or nondisclosure to Hale of essential information concerning the Burge settlement.
NNIC presents on appeal several additional arguments supporting summary judgment in its favor. These arguments were raised in the district court, but the court did not rule on them. First, NNIC contends that Stanley‘s claim against it is extinguished by the doctrine of confusion. NNIC argues that, despite Stanley‘s nominal position as representative of Hale‘s bankruptcy estate,
NNIC next contends that Stanley‘s claim against it for breach of its duty of good faith and fair dealing warrants dismissal, because Hale signed an agreement releasing NNIC from “any and all liability” under the ADIC policies, including “claims for indemnification, defense, legal fees and costs, [and] bad faith.” NNIC insists that this release meets the requirements of article 3071 of the
The
NNIC correctly notes that Stanley has not sought to rescind the release Hale executed in favor of NNIC, nor has he directly alleged that Hale was fraudulently induced to sign that release. We are satisfied, however, that those arguments are implicit in Stanley‘s discrete allegations of the acts and omissions of NNIC that are advanced as proving that NNIC breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing. As detailed above, Stanley contends that, in obtaining Hale‘s consent to the Burge settlement and the accompanying release in favor of NNIC, NNIC failed “to truthfully and accurately communicate essential information” about the ADIC policy limits and coverage period as well as the true extent of the liability he would continue to face after the Burge settlement was reached. We express no opinion whether NNIC‘s actions amounted to fraud, but we recognize that Stanley has effectively —— albeit indirectly —— alleged such fraud in the inducement of Hale‘s consent to the release in favor of NNIC. We therefore decline NNIC‘s invitation to affirm the district court‘s grant of
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we REVERSE the orders of the district court granting summary judgment, one in favor of the Trinchard defendants on Stanley‘s legal malpractice claim and the other in favor of NNIC on Stanley‘s claim for breach of good faith and fair dealing; and we REMAND this action to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED.