McLaughlin v. Sullivan

In this interlocutory appeal, we must determine whether an attorney may be held liable for the suicide of a client. We hold that an attorney may not be held liable, and reverse the decision of the Superior Court (Bean, J.) denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

The underlying facts of the case are that in October 1979, the plaintiff’s decedent, Lawrence W. McLaughlin, retained the defendant, Dorothy R. Sullivan, Esquire, to defend him against certain criminal charges, specifically, burglary, possession of burglary tools, and two counts of the unauthorized possession of a controlled drug,…