Musselman Essay

353 Words2 Pages
Musselman v. Willoughby Corp 230 Va. 337, 337 S.E.2d 724 (1985) Parties Plaintiff------------ ------>Willoughby Corp alleges defendant did not supervise paralegal resulting in harm to client Defendant-------------------------->Licensed attorney that employed a paralegal t Facts and Procedural History Attorney Musselman was hired by Willoughby Corporation to to handle the daily operations of their corporation and to complete purchases that the Company were interested in such as the purchase or sale of certain land. Musselman became the corporation's attorney as well as its secretary an was notified by the corporation that it would like to sell a parcel of land to a local real estate broker. Attorney Musselman took the case and quickly assigned it to Stanley Joynes, a recent colege graduate. Musselman was fully aware that Joynes had no formal training as a alwayer or even a paralegal yet he let him work on this case without any supervison. Due to lack of supervision many mistakes were made by Joynes and language was purposely put in the contract that led Hurt to escape liability and this caused the client to lose out on a great deal of money. Issue Whether Attorney Musselman acted neglieglently by assigning the case to Mr. Joynes and not supervising his. Whether Attorney Musselmwas negligent and breached his fiduciary duty as counsel to the Corporation. . Holding The trial court found that the defedant was negligent as both attorney and officer and fined him $243,722.99. Musselman appealed this decision saying that he lacked the capacity to act as officer and/or attorney. Rationale The trial court found that their decision will be affirmed because not only did Atty Musselman have the capacity to work as attorney and officer but he did so and he did not inform the corporation that Hurt wanted to be ecused from all personal
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