Markowitz

Blue Water Sunset, LLC (Blue Water), filed a motion to disqualify Attorney Gary Kurtz (Kurtz) from a derivative action during which he briefly represented certain defendants as well as limited liability company plaintiffs 1 at the same time. The trial court denied the motion and Blue Water appealed. Pursuant to Forrest v. Baeza (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 65 , 74—75 [ 67 Cal.Rptr.2d 857 ] (Forrest), Kurtz should have been disqualified from representing the limited liability company plaintiffs. In reversing in part and affirming in part, we announce a limited exception to the rule that a complaining party lacks standing to seek disqualification of an attorney unless the party and attorney have some sort of attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. If an attorney simultaneously represents a limited liability company and a member with conflicting interests in a derivative action filed by the second and only other member, and if the limited liability company’s consent to concurrent representation is required by California State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, rule 3-310, 2 the second member has vicarious standing to move to disqualify. Vicarious standing is based on the limited…