Messner v. Boon, 466 S.W.3d 191 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2015, pet. granted, judgm't vacated w.r.m.).
Administratrix filed suit against Attorney alleging
malpractice for representation of (1) Decedent while Decedent was alive
and (2) Executrix after Decedent died. The trial
court granted a take-nothing judgment against Administratrix and she
appealed. The appellate court held that
Administratrix had standing to pursue claims for malpractice which
Decedent had while alive but lacked standing with regard to Attorney’s
representation of Executrix.
With regard to the claim that Attorney was
negligent in the representation of Decedent, the court followed the
clear line of authority of Supreme Court of Texas cases that hold that
although Attorney owes no duties to non-client beneficiaries, Attorney
owed duties to Decedent and it is those duties which Administratrix
claims were breached. In other words, Administratrix
is merely bringing the action Decedent could have brought had he not
died.
However, with regard to Attorney’s duties to
Executrix, those duties are owed only to Executrix.
Thus, a successor personal representative such as Administratrix lacks
standing to bring those claims. The court rejected
Administratrix’s claim that she stepped into Executrix’s shoes when she
took office and thus could bring whatever claims Executrix could have
brought if she had remained in office. The court
explained that Decedent could not have brought suit against Attorney for
this alleged malpractice and thus neither can Administratrix.
Of course, Executrix or her estate has standing to bring a
malpractice claim against Attorney.
Moral: A successor personal representative
lacks standing to sue an attorney who provided advice to a previous
personal representative for malpractice.