No Harm, No Foul

In Green v. McKay, the Court of Appeals addressed the causation requirement in a legal malpractice action.  Appellants were charged by the City of Dallas with certain code violations on a property they had sold to a debtor, who had executed a deed of trust in their favor, but who was later forced to file in Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  In response to the suit, appellants sought legal advice from appellee, McKay, who told appellants that they did not have to do anything and that “it would go away.”  The City ultimately obtained a default judgment of $562,275 against appellants, who then turned around and sued McKay for legal malpractice.  The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision, finding that the appellants had not presented any evidence of “causation.”  According to the Court, in a legal malpractice action, “[c]ausation requires that a plantiff prove a meritorious defense to the underlying case.”  Based on principles of bankruptcy law—which established that under the vendor’s lien held by appellants, they held legal title to the property in question—the Court found the appellants would not have been able to establish a meritorious defense in the code violations lawsuit even if McKay had filed an answer.  Accordingly, the Court concluded that the appellants could not establish the causation element of their malpractice claim and upheld the trial court’s dismissal.