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Ferguson v. Cramer5/21/1998
dge further indicated to Cramer that the Plaintiffs were not entitled to royalty payments for Edgewater's updated editions of the Decedent's works of authorship, despite the fact that the new editions were based on the Decedent's underlying works of authorship.
46. In approximately July of 1992 Plaintiffs expressed their concern in the matter of the Edgewater payments to Cramer, at which time he indicated to the Plaintiffs that they were not entitled to further trademark and tradename license fee and royalty payments as a result of the death of their father, however, he assured them that no modification, alteration or amendment had been agreed to pertaining to them and forwarded to the heirs a proposed letter to Edgewater which purported to demand further negotiations relative to the payments.
59. Cramer advised Paula Eckes in his capacity as attorney for the Estate that Beckett had offered $25,00 .00 in full settlement of any and all claims the estate might have against him. He further advised Paula Eckes that the estate was not entitled to any further split of the royalties received from House of Collectibles and that the offer of Beckett was a reasonable one in light of the circumstances and that in the event of litigation the Estate would be unlikely to prevail." (Emphasis added).
We conclude that none of these allegations establishes an attorney-client relationship between the beneficiaries and Cramer. In fact, the complaint itself indicates in several places that Ms. Eckes was Cramer's client, repeatedly refers to Cramer as the "attorney for the Estate," and specifically states that Ms. Eckes employed Cramer "to represent her in handling and administering the estate." The representation agreement attached as an exhibit to the complaint also indicates that Ms. Eckes was Cramer's client. Furthermore, although not determinative, the beneficiaries retained their own counsel with regard to the royalty payments the beneficiaries expected from Edgewater. We therefore hold that the Court of Special Appeals did not err in affirming the trial court's dismissal of the instant case on the ground that the beneficiaries did not have standing to maintain a cause of action against the personal representative's attorney under the strict privity rule.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS AFFIRMED. COSTS TO BE PAID BY PETITIONER.
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