St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Speerstra

This is a legal malpractice case arising out of the defense of a medical malpractice case. In the latter case, defendant attorneys were retained by St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul) in 1974 to represent its insured, Salem Hospital, in defense of consolidated medical malpractice actions brought by Ned and Opal Crippen against the hospital and five physicians. The Crippens settled with four of the doctors for $550,000, took a voluntary non-suit against the fifth doctor and proceeded to trial against the hospital as the sole defendant. The jury returned a verdict in favor of…