Curtis

The issue raised in this appeal is whether either appellant

Thomas A. Curtis, M.D. (Dr. Curtis), or his medical corporation, appellant Thomas A. Curtis, M.D., Inc. (the Corporation), has standing to pursue a claim for legal malpractice purportedly assigned to Dr. Curtis by the chapter 7 trustee for the Corporation. We conclude, under the circumstances presented here, that only the trustee had standing to pursue the claim, and affirm the judgment of the trial court which sustained a demurrer to the complaint brought by appellants. We also affirm the trial court’s determination that claims against the Corporation’s former accountants were barred by the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations.

Factual and Procedural Background

The underlying facts are not in dispute. Respondent Kellogg & Andelson (K&A), an accounting firm, gave tax advice to appellants, which resulted in the Corporation paying Dr. Curtis’s wife $431,500 as employee compensation for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1988, and $510,500 for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1989, and prepared tax returns listing those expenses on the Corporation’s income tax returns for the relevant years.

In…