Lawyer is ordered to pay $1.75M in punitive damages for alleged meritless suit
A Philadelphia-area lawyer has been found liable for $1.75 million in punitive damages for an alleged meritless lawsuit he filed against a former Cozen O’Connor lawyer.
Jurors found lawyer Mark Halpern of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, liable for $1.75 million on Sept. 30, the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) reports. Jurors also found Halpern’s former client liable for $300,000 in punitives.
The lawyer who won the award, which also included $250,000 in compensatory damages, is former Cozen lawyer John Brown Jr. of Colorado. He sued Halpern under Pennsylvania’s Dragonetti Act, which imposes liability for wrongful use of civil proceedings.
Brown’s Dragonetti claim stems from an unsuccessful suit filed by Halpern on behalf of a client who alleged Brown acted improperly with regard to a trust. Brown alleged in his suit that the trust allegations hurt his reputation while he was trying to start a law firm, and Halpern should have known the trust claims were meritless.
Halpern told the Legal Intelligencer he was hopeful the verdict would be overturned. He cited several recent lower-court decisions that found the Dragonetti statute was unconstitutional as applied to lawyers. “We are hopeful that those decisions will be affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,” he said.
The pending Pennsylvania Supreme Court case is Villani v. Seibert, Law360 (sub. req.) reports. At issue is whether the Dragonetti Act violates a state constitutional provision giving the judiciary authority to discipline lawyers.
