Andrew Shebay & Company, PLLC v. George M. Bishop

OPINION

JANE BLAND, Justice.

In this case, we examine whether a criminal conviction for income tax evasion and knowingly filing a false tax return bars a subsequent civil claim for accounting malpractice that arises out of the preparation and filing of the return. We conclude that it does.

Background

In 1994, George Bishop hired Andrew Shebay & Company PLLC to prepare his personal income tax return for 1991. She-bay delegated the task to his employee, Joel Reed, who prepared the late return. In 1991, Bishop had received $933,388.33 in income from a client of his law practice, but this payment was…