Buehler

In this legal malpractice action, Donald L. Buehler, M.D., appeals a judgment entered in favor of Attorney Robert Sbardellati after a jury returned a special verdict finding Sbardellati was not negligent. The gist of Buehler’s action was that Sbardellati breached his professional responsibilities as an attorney while performing certain services in connection with a 1985 Texas real estate investment involving a limited partnership in which Buehler was to be a limited partner and James Parrish was the general partner; where both Buehler and Parrish for years had been clients of Sbardellati and his law firm, Harrigan, Ruff, Ryder & Sbardellati (HRRS); and Sbardellati possessed information about the particular real property involved as well as Parrish’s past dealings with it.

Buehler asserts (1) error in instructions that (a) a finding of negligence against an attorney required a conflict of interest on the attorney’s part, and (b) a conflict does not exist where two clients pursue a common goal; (2) abuse of discretion in the trial court’s precluding him from arguing evidence that would have established that Sbardellati’s clients had conflicting interests; (3) an absence of…