Joint-liability rules clarified for cases with both negligent and intentional acts
By Gregory P. Turner

Where multiple defendants commit both intentional and negligent acts, the trial court must segregate which acts caused which part of the harm, the Washington Supreme Court recently held in a 5-to-4 decision. Joint and several liability is imposed on defendants as to only those damages that result from negligence.

In Tegman v. Accident & Medical Investigations, Inc., no. 71811-3 (Aug.28, 2003), Tegman was injured in an auto accident. She retained Richard McClellan and Accident & Medical Investigations (AMI) to handle her claims, thinking that McClellan was a lawyer. He in fact was not. He did hire lawyers, including Lorinda Noble, to work on Tegman’s case. Two years later, McClellan settled Tegman’s case without her knowledge, forged her signature, and put the $35,000 in settlement proceeds into his general bank account. He paid Tegman what he determined was her share of the settlement proceeds.

Tegman and two others later sued McClellan, AMI, Noble, and other lawyers who had worked at AMI. They alleged both negligence torts, including legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duties, and intentional torts, including fraud and conversion. A bench trial resulted in an award against the lawyers for legal malpractice and negligence.

Noble appealed. She argued that the trial court erred in holding her and all other defendants jointly and severally liable to Tegman, since McClellan and AMI committed intentional acts but she did not. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court accepted discretionary review.