Making of a Malpractice Mess in N.H.: The Son, the Lab and the Lawyer
From Concord, New Hampshire comes a tale about a laboratory, a lawyer and an alienated family. It resulted in a lost lab, a legal mess—and questionable conduct by the lawyer, according to the state Supreme Court recently.
It began in 1996, when inventor Alfred Carbone agreed to sell his home and laboratory in Londonderry and turn the money over to his son, Daniel, and daughter-in-law, Lisa. Daniel and Lisa Carbone agreed to sell their home also, then buy a bigger house to accommodate their family, Carbone and his lab.
The father’s home sold first, and he moved into his son’s basement. But he soon found this arrangement stressful and asked for his money back. Daniel said he couldn’t repay Carbone.
Daniel and Lisa eventually bought a new home with an apartment for Carbone. But the father was unhappy because there wasn’t enough room for his laboratory, and his relationship with his son went downhill. Ultimately, he had to sell or get rid of all his lab equipment.
Carbone then hired lawyer Nancy Tierney to sue his son and daughter-in-law. Tierney filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Concord seeking $10,000 or more in damages. Daniel and Lisa got the court to dismiss it, partly because Carbone was required to sue for $75,000 or more in federal court.
Tierney did not tell Carbone why the complaint had been dismissed and she failed to appeal the dismissal. Tierney then told Carbone that the court rejected the lawsuit because it should have been filed in federal court. But when Tierney filed a new lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston in 1999, the court dismissed it because New Hampshire had already rejected it.
While that complaint was pending, Tierney filed a similar one in Massachusetts Superior Court. The state court dismissed it in 2000, but Tierney didn’t try to find out why. It was later discovered that the court had misplaced a form she submitted. Instead, Tierney told Carbone an appeal would be futile as every court that could have heard it had put a stop to it.
In the meantime, Lisa Carbone filed for bankruptcy. Carbone asked Tierney to object to Lisa’s request to keep her home and to wipe out the debt owed to Carbone. But Tierney failed to attend the first meeting of creditors and didn’t oppose the homestead exemption. Lisa Carbone was granted personal bankruptcy. Later that year, Carbone sued Tierney for legal malpractice. A judge ruled Tierney’s legal misconduct was “egregious” and a jury awarded Carbone nearly $70,000 for the loss of his home and lab, plus $105,000 for the loss of his equipment.
Tierney appealed to the state Supreme Court. In a 3-1 vote last month, the court agreed Carbone was required to provide expert testimony to show Tierney’s actions directly harmed him. The court sent the case back to the Superior Court for a new hearing.
Justice Joseph Nadeau dissented, saying Tierney’s misconduct was so obvious that Carbone should not have to endure more legal hearings or delays in getting the money due to him. “As far as I am concerned, (Tierney’s) conduct is the equivalent of a surgeon leaving a sponge inside a patient,” he wrote. “The circumstances in this case are exceptional; the negligence of the defendant is clear; the consequences to the plaintiff are obvious.”
Quoting William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Nadeau concluded: “There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave to tell us this.”
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