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Bryant v. Robledo6/30/2005
ranted their motion for a partial summary judgment on the breach-of-contract and fraud claims. Because no evidence was adduced indicating that Beth Bryant either entered into and breached a contract with the Robledos or obtained their money by fraud, the trial court erred in entering the summary judgment as to Beth Bryant's liability. To that extent, we reverse the summary judgment and instruct the trial court to enter a judgment in favor of Beth Bryant as to those claims.
Initially, the Bryants contend that the Robledos did not have standing to sue alleging breach of contract and fraud in failing to perform legal services promised in exchange for the Robledos' payment of $15,000. In Sessions v. Espy, 854 So. 2d 515 (Ala. 2002), our Supreme Court interpreted the Alabama Legal Services Liability Act ("the ALSLA"), § 6-5-570, et seq., Ala. Code 1975, to apply to all actions against legal-service providers that allege a breach of their duties in providing legal services; both common-law and statutory claims such as breach of a duty, negligence, misrepresentation, and the like are all subsumed into a single cause of action under the ALSLA. Sessions, 854 So. 2d at 522. The allegations of fraud and breach of contract relating to services provided on behalf of Nave that are stated in the complaint fall within the purview of the ALSLA. An essential element of a claim under the ALSLA is the existence of an attorney-client relationship. Brackin v. Trimmier Law Firm, 897 So. 2d 207, 229 (Ala. 2004). To create an attorney-client relationship, there must be an employment contract "'either express or implied'" between an attorney and "'the party for whom he purports to act or some one authorized to represent such party.'" Board of Commissioners of the Alabama State Bar v. Jones, 291 Ala. 371, 377, 281 So. 2d 267, 273 (1973) (quoting 5 Am. Jur. Attorneys at Law § 29 (1936)).
The Robledos have not argued that they were third-party beneficiaries of a contract between Nave and James Bryant; rather, they have insisted that the electronic correspondence between themselves and Bryant constituted all of the elements of an offer, an acceptance, and the mutual assent to a contract for legal services. Moreover, the Robledos contend that the $15,000 they sent to Bryant was consideration for their contract with Bryant for legal services. The core problem with that Robledos' assertion is that none of the admissions established or tended to establish the existence of a contract between Bryant and the Robledos. At best, the admissions tend to establish a legal-services contract between Bryant and Nave, with the Robledos only acting as an agent for Nave in making that contract and as a funding source for Nave.
Specifically, James Bryant admitted that he agreed to invoke the power of attorney signed by Nave in order to create a new corporation to handle Nave's assets and to hire an auditor to verify Nave's assets and debts; after verifying those financial figures, James Bryant expected to hire independent third-party administrators to monitor and administer Nave's real-estate interests, investments, and savings and trust accounts. Additionally, James Bryant admitted that he agreed to serve as co-counsel to defend Nave in a conservatorship proceeding challenging Nave's mental competency that had been filed in the state of Tennessee.
Because the admissions do not support the Robledos' assertions of the existence of an express or implied contract directly between them and James Bryant, we conclude that the Robledos did not show standing to pursue a breach-of-contract claim alleging a failure to provide legal services to Nave. See Sessions and Brackin, supra; see also Robinson v. Benton, 842 So. 2d 631, 636
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