Editor's note: Let's hear it for Judge Bob Shapiro! Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Judge Rules That 'Unscrupulous' Lawyer Must Pay For Ripping Off Friends
The Connecticut Law Tribune
July 4, 2013
Attorney Lawrence Mulligan and his wife were like family to Bruce and Pamela Jalbert of Southbury. Over a 10-year period, the couples traveled together, dined together and often socialized at each other's homes. So it was no surprise that Larry Mulligan would handle the Jalberts' legal matters. But while the Jalberts thought Mulligan was working diligently to represent them in a property dispute, he was actually ripping them off for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. To make matters worse, it has since been discovered that he wasn't even doing any work on the case. The Jalberts sued Mulligan and a Waterbury Superior Court judge recently ruled that the lawyer must pay the Jalberts $746,842. That money includes treble damages and interest on the $219,750 the Jalberts paid Mulligan for legal work pertaining to a property that the Jalberts purchased in 2004 for $295,000. In issuing his written ruling, Judge Robert B. Shapiro used words like "immoral," "unethical," "oppressive" and "unscrupulous" to describe Mulligan's actions. "This has been a very difficult situation for the Jalberts, who've been betrayed by their close friend and attorney," said the Jalberts' lawyer, John M. Wolfson, of Feiner Wolfson in Hartford. "Over the years, they've spent many sleepless nights waiting for trial. We're very pleased with Judge Shapiro's careful, thoughtful and well-reasoned decision." Carpentry Work Mulligan, of Woodbury, has practiced law since 1976. Until 1986, he worked at two large firms in New York City. Since then, he's been in private practice in Connecticut. Mulligan represented the Jalberts in various legal matters from 1995 to 2008. He represented them when they bought their Southbury home in 2004 and helped them when they sold their previous home in Waterbury. As friends, the couple and lawyer never had a written fee agreement. When the Jalberts bought the home in the "Russian Village" section of Southbury on Tolstoy Lane, Mulligan urged the Jalberts to purchase title insurance from Chicago Title Insurance Company.
Read more: http://www.ctlawtribune.com/PubArticleCT.jsp?id=1202609746183&kw=Judge%20Rules%20That%20%27Unscrupulous%27%20Lawyer%20Must%20Pay%20For%20Ripping%20Off%20Friends&et=editorial&bu=Connecticut%20Law%20Tribune&cn=20130708&src=EMC-Email&pt=Connecticut%20Law%20Tribune%20Daily%20Briefing&slreturn=20130610074444#ixzz2YdsVVXQl
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