In 1994, the Angelos Law Firm reached a settlement agreement with a Baltimore-based asbestos installer named MCIC, Inc. (formerly known as McCormick Asbestos Company) and its insurers, settling thousands of its clients’ asbestos injury claims against MCIC for between $1,000 and $9,500 each (depending on the progress of disease at that time). In the MCIC Settlement Agreement, MCIC and its insurers agreed that the settlement was for all available insurance, and they promised that if any additional insurance was discovered that was applicable to the settlement beneficiaries’ claims, they would arrange to distribute that additional insurance to the beneficiaries on a pro rata basis.
Some time during or before 1998, Defendants discovered that there was, in fact, substantial additional insurance applicable to the claims. Defendants demanded that MCIC and its insurers honor their agreement to distribute that additional insurance, and when they failed to do so, Defendants brought two actions in court in Maryland—a Motion to Enforce the MCIC Settlement Agreement filed in 2002, and a Tort Action filed in 2005. Unfortunately, the Maryland courts determined that Defendants had waited too long to bring these actions, and both actions were dismissed as time barred.
This Case alleges the following three claims for legal malpractice against all Defendants:
- In Count I, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants did not move timely to enforce their rights and the rights of thousands of similarly situated Angelos Law Firm clients under the MCIC Settlement Agreement.
- In Count II, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants did not pursue timely fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims on behalf of Plaintiffs and thousands of similarly situated Angelos Law Firm clients against MCIC and its insurers.
- In Count III, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants failed to challenge a buyback by Reliance Insurance Co., prior to the 1994 settlement, of insurance coverage it had issued to MCIC, thereby depleting the pool of coverage for the settling claimants.
Defendants deny that they committed legal malpractice.
Additional information about the Case is available in the Court files, which are kept at the clerk’s office for the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, located at 111 North Calvert Street, Room 412, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. You may view any unsealed records in person at the clerk’s office by providing the clerk with the Case number (24-C-21-000847) and requesting to view the Case records. You may also request a copy of unsealed documents in the file. There is a fee for copies.