Thorsen v. Richmond Soc'y for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

OPINION BY SENIOR JUSTICE LEROY F. MILLETTE, JR.

This appeal concerns whether an intended third-party beneficiary of a will contract, who failed to successfully take under the will instrument due to the drafting attorney's error, may sue the attorney for malpractice.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

In 2003, Alice Louise Cralle Dumville, then a resident of Chesterfield County, met with James B. Thorsen, an attorney, at his office in Richmond, Virginia, in order to prepare her last will and testament. At the end of the initial meeting, Thorsen understood that Dumville wanted him to prepare a will that…