Lippitt O’Keefe partner Harvey R. Weingarden won a decision in the Michigan Court of Appeals on behalf of a client in a legal malpractice case. The lower court had ruled that, because the client entered into a divorce settlement agreement, and the divorce judge approved it, she would be precluded from suing her lawyer for malpractice based upon the fairness of that settlement.

The Court of Appeals agreed with Weingarden that approving a divorce settlement agreement is not, itself, a ruling that the lawyer acted competently, as that issue was not actually litigated by the Family Law Judge. The legal malpractice suit will now be reinstated for trial.