Lawyer Claims Motley Rice Committed Malpractice in His Malpractice Suit
A lawyer who hired the South Carolina law firm Motley Rice to represent him in a suit against the law firm that handled his divorce has turned around and sued Motley Rice for malpractice.
Lawyer Denis Ventriglia claims Motley Rice failed to file suit within the statute of limitations against North Carolina divorce firm Reid, Lewis, Deese, Nance & Person, the National Law Journal reports. The suit also claims Motley Rice dropped Ventriglia as a client just days before the time limit expired.
The underlying divorce case involved a dispute over a prenuptial agreement and $25 million Ventriglia’s wife received from the sale of her family’s interest in a grocery chain. Ventriglia did not recover any of the $25 million, the story says.
Ventriglia was represented in the first malpractice case by Motley Rice lawyers Paul Doolittle and Frederick Jekel, according to the NLJ story. The two lawyers have since formed their own law firm.
Ventriglia’s new lawyer, Eric Bland, told the National Law Journal that Doolittle and Jekel continued to work on Ventriglia’s case even after Motley Rice dropped him as a client. He said in an e-mail to the publication that the case highlights an internal disagreement within Motley Rice on what type of work it should take on, and how to discharge a client.
The law firm refused to comment to the NLJ about the suit.
