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Apex Towing Company v. Tolin3/1/2001
As amended April 26, 2001
On Petition for Review from the Court of Appeals for the Ninth District of Texas
Argued on October 11, 2000
Justice Hankinson delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Phillips, Justice Hecht, Justice Enoch, Justice Baker, Justice Abbott and Justice O'Neill joined.
Justice Owen did not participate in the decision.
In this cause we re-examine when the statute of limitations in a legal-malpractice case should be tolled. Petitioners sued respondent attorneys for mishandling the defense of a maritime personal-injury lawsuit. The trial court granted the attorneys' motions for summary judgment based on limitations. The court of appeals affirmed. 997 S.W.2d 903. It concluded that the tolling rule we announced in Hughes v. Mahaney & Higgins, 821 S.W.2d 154 (Tex. 1991), was modified by our later decision in Murphy v. Campbell, 964 S.W.2d 265 (Tex. 1997), and did not toll limitations in this case. 997 S.W.2d at 905. We conclude that Murphy did not modify the rule we announced in Hughes, and today we reaffirm that rule: When an attorney commits malpractice in the prosecution or defense of a claim that results in litigation, the statute of limitations on a malpractice claim against that attorney is tolled until all appeals on the underlying claim are exhausted or the litigation is otherwise finally concluded. We therefore reverse the court of appeals' judgment and remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings.
Petitioners Apex Towing Company, Apex Barge Company, and Apex Oil Company (collectively "Apex") hired respondents William M. Tolin, III, of the Texas law firm of Benckenstein & Oxford (collectively "Oxford"), and later the Louisiana law firm of Hebert, Mouledoux & Bland (Bland), to defend them against a maritime personal-injury suit in a Texas court. The plaintiff seaman in that suit was injured while boarding a vessel when the wash of a tugboat owned by Apex caused him to fall from the gangplank. In its legal-malpractice case, Apex alleges among other things that Oxford and Bland failed to file a timely maritime limitation-of-liability pleading, leaving Apex exposed to a judgment in excess of the value of the vessel and its freight. On August 31, 1994, the trial court in the underlying personal-injury suit rendered judgment on a jury verdict for an amount in excess of any limit that could have been imposed had Apex's attorneys filed a timely maritime-limitation pleading. Apex hired additional counsel to file post-judgment motions and an appeal. The case was ultimately settled, and the court of appeals dismissed the appeal on May 19, 1995.
On August 31, 1995, Apex filed a legal-malpractice suit against Oxford and Bland in Louisiana. That case was later dismissed without prejudice. On February 19, 1997, Apex filed this lawsuit against both law firms, alleging among other things that the attorneys breached the standard of care by failing to file a timely maritime-limitation pleading, failing to investigate and pursue appropriate discovery, failing to file special exceptions, and failing to submit an appropriate jury charge and instructions. Oxford and Bland moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the two-year statute of limitations on Apex's malpractice claim began to run no later than January 27, 1995, when the parties purportedly agreed to settle the underlying personal- injury case. The trial court granted summary judgment for the attorneys.
The court of appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment. 997 S.W.2d 903. The court ruled that Apex sustained a legal injury no later than August 31, 1994, the date of the underlying judgment in exces
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