Jimmie Lee Taylor v. The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company

An attorney advised his client to make loans both to his law firm and to a business from which he received a commission for the referral. The attorney did not make a written disclosure or advise his client to seek independent legal advice, both of which are required by the rules of professional responsibility when entering a self-interested business transaction with a client. The loans were never repaid. After the client obtained a malpractice judgment against the attorney for breach of fiduciary duty, he sued the attorney’s malpractice insurer seeking to recover the judgment under the…