Florida Law Firm, Attorneys Face Revived Legal Malpractice Suit

A legal malpractice lawsuit against a Florida law firm and two attorneys stemming from a dispute with health-care products company Hollister Inc. was partly revived after a state appeals court held that the case was wrongly dismissed as time-barred.

Hollister sued Peter Von Dyck and his company, Zassi Medical Evolutions Inc., alleging breach of contract over an asset purchase agreement involving Hollister’s acquisition of Zassi’s assets of certain medical device. Von Dyck was hit with a $9.2 million judgment in that case.

Von Dyck proceeded to sue his counsel, Richard Kyle Gavin, John Albert Carlisle, and the law firm of Liles, Gavin & George PA, alleging they should have argued that the “merger” and “anti-reliance” clauses of the purchase agreement precluded a finding of fraud liability against him. Von Dyck also claimed they failed to ensure that a due diligence checklist was admitted as evidence during the liability part of the case.

The suit was dismissed partly because it was found to be barred by the statute of limitations.

The Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, partially revived that suit on Wednesday. The trial court wrongly found that the statute of limitations began to run when Von Dyck paid attorney’s fees to new counsel in the underlying litigation, the appeals court said.

However, the trial court’s alternative reason for dismissal, that the the purchase agreement didn’t provide Von Dyck any meritorious defenses, was valid, the court said. While that applies to the purchase agreement portion of the claim, the court held, it doesn’t dispatch of the allegation that the attorneys failed to raise and assert the checklist arguments.

“Thus, Appellant may proceed on the checklist portion of the claim,” the appeals court ruled.

Von Dyck is represented by Carlton Fields PA. The firm defendants are represented by Murphy & Anderson PA.

Counsel for Von Dyck declined to comment on Thursday.

The case is Von Dyck v. Gavin, Fla. Dist. Ct. App., 1st Dist., No. 1D21-3401, 11/16/22.