Brodkin

O'Connor Agency, Inc. (O'Connor) sued attorney Alan Brodkin for negligently failing to recover punitive damages in a lawsuit he brought on O'Connor's behalf. The trial court found O'Connor's action was time barred and granted summary judgment in Brodkin's favor. We conclude the statute of limitations issue was wrongly decided and that recovery of lost punitive damages is available in a legal malpractice action, and therefore reverse.

O'Connor is an advertising agency specializing in ads for the national yellow pages. In 1989, it hired Brodkin to pursue an action against some of its former employees for misappropriation of clients and unfair competition. Following a court trial in 1993, the judge awarded O'Connor $160,467 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.

Defendants appealed, arguing several grounds for reversing the award of compensatory damages, including the sufficiency of the evidence and several of the trial court's evidentiary rulings. They also argued the award of punitive damages was improper because O'Connor failed to present evidence of defendants' financial worth. We agreed and reversed the portion of the judgment awarding punitive…