A Burr Ridge trucking company left on the hook for more than $2.5 million in a Texas lawsuit over an accident that left two motorcyclists severely injured will be allowed to continue its legal action against its ex-lawyers in Cook County court, after a federal judge ruled the trucking firm wasn’t wrong to add Chicago lawyers as defendantst, defeating the lawyers'' attempt to move the case to federal court.
On June 12, U.S. District Judge John Tharp ruled federal courts don’t have jurisdiction over the case, and sent it back to Cook County Circuit Court for further proceedings on the malpractice claims brought by Dillon Transport against the Chicago-based law firm Tannen Law Group P.C. and the firm of Naman Howell Smith & Lee, which operates offices in four Texas locations, including San Antonio and Austin.
The decision came down to the question of “diversity” among the defendants – meaning whether the court believed the defendants had enough of a connection to Illinois to allow the case to proceed in a local county court. If the court believed the defendants and plaintiffs were from different states, the federal court could claim jurisdiction over the matter.
Larry Warren
| Naman Howell Smith & Lee
In this case, however, Judge Tharp said Dillon Transport had appropriately added Tannen Law as a defendant in the case, and that means the Texas-based Naman law firm will need to defend itself in Cook County court.
In December, Dillon Transport, and its owner, Jeff Dillon, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against the Tannen Law Group and the Naman firm, nearly two years after a jury in Nueces County, Texas, near Corpus Christi, ordered the Dillon company to pay $32 million to the severely injured victims of a crash involving a Dillon Transport truck.
A settlement later reduced the damages, but still compelled Dillon to pay $2.5 million out of the company’s coffers above limits of Dillon’s insurance policies to “save the trucking company from the financially ruinous $32 million judgment.”
According to Dillon’s lawsuit, the trucking firm hired lawyer Michael Tannen, of the Tannen firm, and Larry Warren of the Naman Howell firm, to represent his company after it was sued in connection with a March 2013 traffic crash involving a motorcycle and one of Dillon’s trucks. According to other published reports, the crash occurred on Highway 188 in San Patricio County, near Aransas, Texas, north of Corpus Christi. According to reports, the truck veered over the center line of the road and struck the motorcycle being driven in the opposite direction, causing it to crash.
According to Dillon’s website, the firm operates a trucking terminal near San Antonio, about 130 miles from Aransas Pass.
The crash resulted in severe injuries to Theresa Gamez and Miguel A. Garcia Sr., who were riding on the motorcycle. Injuries purportedly included amputations, traumatic brain injuries, multiple fractures, disability and disfigurement, among others.
In September 2015, Dillon’s complaint said, Warren allegedly evaluated the case and concluded it “would be defensible at the trial,” which was slated for December 2015. Dillon alleged Warren estimated damages of around $5.8 million, which lined up with Dillon’s $5 million limit on its insurance policy, the complaint said.
Ultimately, Dillon alleged the lawyers owe more than $2.5 million because they allegedly didn’t seek to negotiate a settlement before the case went to trial, which, he said, would have reduced “the likelihood of a ruinous adverse verdict.”
Dillon also accused Warren and Naman Howell of mishandling the defense at trial.
After Dillon’s lawsuit was filed, the defendants removed the case to federal court, asserting Dillon had “fraudulently” added the Tannen firm to the action, as a maneuver to prevent the Naman firm from moving the case to potentially friendlier legal turf in federal court.
The defendants assert “there is no reasonable possibility that (Dillon’s) allegations suffice to state a cause of action for professional negligence against the Tannen defendants in an Illinois state court,” according to the judge’s opinion.
Tannen has asserted he pushed for the case to be settled “until the very last minute,” but was rebuffed by Dillon’s insurers.
The judge, however, said for the purposes of Dillon’s request to send the case back to Cook County court, he did not need to consider Tannen’s assertions concerning what he did or did not do regarding the potential settlement.
“While the plaintiffs have not submitted any evidence to contradict Tannen’s affidavits, they are not required to do so at this stage of the case,” Judge Tharp wrote. “Instead, the Court considers uncontested jurisdictional facts in the defendants’ affidavits and declaration to determine whether Tannen and TLG had anything to do with the conduct alleged in the complaint.”
And in this case, the judge said, “it is clear that Tannen was involved in conduct that Dillon Transport alleges was negligent and the cause of its $2.5 million damages.”
“The affidavits and declarations, therefore, do not establish that Dillon Transport has no reasonable possibility of recovering against Tannen and his firm, TLG, for professional negligence,” the judge said.
Dillon is represented in the action by attorney Barry Bollinger, of Chicago.