Sherrard v. Stevens

Defendant appeals from a judgment in favor of plaintiffs in the amount of $204,883.54 in actual damages and $100,000 in exemplary damages for legal malpractice. We affirm.

Plaintiffs became foster parents of two children in May of 1978. The two girls lived with plaintiffs for one year while proceedings were pending to terminate the parental rights of the girls’ natural parents. Plaintiffs desired to eventually adopt the two girls, though no petition to adopt had yet been filed. The children were removed from plaintiffs’ custody in May of 1979 because of "disturbed behavior” on the part of…