Divorce client wins verdict on equitable distribution claim – $167,744 Verdict

The plaintiff alleged that the defendants, who were plaintiff’s counsel in his divorce and equitable distribution litigation between 2002 and 2005, failed to present evidence and argument to the court which would have resulted in five residential properties acquired during the marriage being classified as entirely plaintiff’s separate property, or part-marital/part-separate.

The defendants claimed (1) that the plaintiff had conceded that he gifted the newly-purchased properties jointly to the wife, (2) that the plaintiff had agreed with the defendants’ strategy to concede the properties as marital and focus on the significant contributions that the plaintiff had made to the properties during the marriage, and (3) that the plaintiff’s significant personal efforts had transmuted any separate interest into marital property and/or created part-marital interests in otherwise separate properties.

The court found that the defendants were negligent in their handling of the plaintiff’s tracing issue; that the plaintiff had met his burden of tracing the properties acquired during the marriage to his separate, pre-marital assets; that three residences were 100 percent the plaintiff’s separate property; that one residence was part-marital and part separate owing to a joint mortgage; and, that one parcel of undeveloped land was initially separate, but was transmuted to marital property by the parties’ construction of their marital residence on the parcel and its use for such purpose for almost twenty years. The court found that assuming the remaining marital property had been divided 50/50, the plaintiff would have received an additional $167,744 in assets at the conclusion of his divorce and equitable distribution case.

The court denied the defendants’ counterclaim for unpaid attorney fees.

[12-T-135]

Type of action: Legal malpractice
Injuries alleged: Defendant failed to properly present evidence tracing the plaintiff’s acquisition of five properties to proceeds from the sale of plaintiff’s pre-marital assets
Name of case: Cvijanovic v. Morley, et al.
Court: Prince William Circuit Court
Case no.: CL04085125-00
Tried before: Judge
Judge designate: Arthur B. Vieregg
Date: Aug. 2, 2012
Demand: $325,000
Offer: No offer, but defendants did propose pre-trial mediation
Verdict or settlement: Verdict
Amount: $167,744
Attorney for plaintiff: Adam T. Kronfeld, Fairfax
Attorney for defendants: David D. Hudgins and Ann S. Hudgins, Alexandria
Plaintiff’s expert: Dennis M. Hottell, divorce and equitable distribution, Fairfax
Defendants’ expert: Valerie E. Hughes, divorce and equitable distribution, Fairfax