Medical Malpractice Plaintiff Sues Her Lawyers Claiming Inadequate Settlement

On September 28, 2010, Bei Yang’s obstetricians delivered her child at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut. An episiotomy was performed during the vaginal delivery that allegedly caused a fourth-degree laceration that was improperly repaired resulting in a rectovaginal fistula.

Ms. Yang retained The Pagan Law Firm to pursue medical malpractice claims against her doctors. They sued the doctors in New York County and, after successfully opposing defendants’ motion for summary judgment and preparing the case for trial, the firm negotiated a settlement for $1,300,000 which was accepted by their client. A month later, the firm issued their client a check for $1,000,000 – the net amount after attorneys’ fees and disbursements.

On 9/14/18, Ms. Yang commenced a legal malpractice action against her former law firm claiming that she was pressured into accepting the $1,300,000 settlement and would have recovered more than that had her former attorneys properly prosecuted her case. On a motion for summary judgment, the attorney malpractice case was dismissed.

In Yang v. The Pagan Law Firm, P.C. (1st Dept, 2024), the dismissal was affirmed. The appellate court noted that plaintiff could not show that but for her former lawyers’ negligence she would have obtained a verdict at trial that exceed the $1,300,000 settlement amount that the defendants negotiated.

Plaintiff argued that her former law firm committed legal malpractice by ignoring her intention to proceed to trial, demanding that she advance trial expenses and coercing her to accept a settlement that was for an amount less than the case was worth.

The law firm argued that they prosecuted the medical malpractice case properly and that their client made a fully informed decision to accept the settlement which was very favorable and avoided the substantial risk of a defense verdict.

Inside Information:

• Plaintiff submitted an affirmation of an expert medical malpractice lawyer who opined that awards in prior similar cases demonstrated that plaintiff’s “settlement is far less than what a jury might award, and which the appellate division has sustained.”
• Plasintiff is a lawyer in New York concentrating on workers’ compensation matters.
• The attorney malpractice lawsuit was commenced two days short of the three year anniversary of the date plaintiff accepted the medical malpractice settlement.