Callister

INTRODUCTION

James B. Church & Associates, P.C. (hereafter, the Church Firm or firm) served as legal counsel for Dennis Shogren, the personal representative of the estate of the late Loren R. Kirk, in a contentious probate action. After years of litigation, the parties to the probate action resolved their dispute with a settlement agreement that provided for distributions from the estate to beneficiaries including Barbara Sagehorn (a relative of the decedent) and a

group of individuals called the Carter Beneficiaries.1 Thereafter, Stephen Callister, as Trustee of the Sagehorn Probate Action Trust, and Charles Bone, attorney-in-fact for the Carter Beneficiaries (hereafter, the petitioners), sued the Church Firm for professional negligence, ordinary negligence, and breach of contract. They alleged the Church Firm negligently failed to file a protective claim for a refund with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or to advise its client, Shogren, that the estate should file such a claim. According to the petitioners, a protective claim for a refund would have permitted the estate to deduct millions of dollars of attorney’s fees from its estate taxes. The Church Firm filed a special…