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Crouse v. Brobeck11/25/1998
considered the factual pattern in which the subsequent attorney tortfeasor seeks indemnity from the original tortfeasor is Munoz v. Davis (1983) 141 Cal.App.3d 420.
In Munoz, the client was injured in a collision between the car in which he was a passenger and the car driven by Davis. The client retained attorney Munoz to represent him, and Munoz committed malpractice by not filing a complaint against Davis within the statutory period. The client then sued Munoz for malpractice, and Munoz cross-complained against Davis for equitable indemnity, asserting that if Munoz were liable the underlying negligence of Davis in part caused the damages suffered by the client. (Munoz v. Davis, supra, 141 Cal.App.3d at p. 422.) The Munoz court relied on two rationales to conclude the negligent attorney was not entitled to indemnification from the defendant whose negligence caused the original injury and created the opportunity for the attorney malpractice. First, the Munoz court noted that equitable indemnity applies only when the prospective indemnitor is jointly and severally liable for the same injury as the prospective indemnitee. The Munoz court concluded the attorney's malpractice caused an injury distinct from the injury caused by the tortfeasor, and it would not impose a duty on the original tortfeasor for harm resulting when the client's legal claims were incompetently managed. (Id. at pp. 425-427.) Second, the Munoz court concluded it would be inequitable to shift malpractice liability from the negligent lawyer to the original tortfeasor because that shift of liability would negate the statute of limitations applicable to the victim's claim and make the original tortfeasor a malpractice insurer for the victim's subsequent attorney. The Munoz court also hypothesized that permitting indemnity would create irreconcilable obligations for the original tortfeasor's attorney who is obligated to protect the tortfeasor's interests. If the injured party's attorney committed malpractice and the party was then permitted to seek indemnity from the original tortfeasor, the original tortfeasor's attorney would face the dilemma of whether he should assist his adversary's counsel to assure the claim is timely filed, competently prosecuted and adequately compensated to preempt a later indemnity claim against his client, or whether he should represent only his client and thereby expose his client to a subsequent indemnity claim from the victim's attorney. (Id. at pp. 427-430.) Based on these concerns, the Munoz court concluded the subsequent attorney who is sued for malpractice is not entitled to equitable indemnity from the original tortfeasor whose conduct caused the personal injury and merely created the opportunity for the later malpractice.
Boatwright and Page seek to distinguish Munoz from this case, arguing that in Munoz the client suffered distinct injuries and here only a single injury is involved. Munoz reasoned the losses were distinct because the original tortfeasor caused the client physical injury and the subsequent malpractice caused the client the distinct injury of loss of damages resulting from the physical injury. We find this case distinguishable from Munoz on that ground. In Munoz, the attorney and the original tortfeasor "were not jointly and severally liable to the plaintiff for the same injury because the connection between the negligent driver's act and the attorney's malpractice was too tenuous." (W.W.S.M. Investors v. Greve, Clifford, Diepenbrock & Paras (1996) 43 Cal.App.4th 517, 522.) The negligence of the original tortfeasor did not cause or contribute to the subsequent malpractice of the attorney, and because there was no nexus between the conduct of the original tortfeasor and the attorney
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