Stewart G. Pollock

“ The purpose of the doctrine is not to bar meritorious claims, but to encourage litigants to bring to the attention of trial courts persons who should be joined in a proceeding. See id. at 567, 688 A.2d 1044 (stating "the purpose of the rule is not just to notify a new party of the imminence of a future law suit, the purpose of the rule is to secure the coordination and consolidation of all litigation emanating from a single controversy through the joinder of all participants in that controversy in a current action and to subject joinder issues to the supervisory authority of the court") ”

“ Because the dismissal of Olds's medical-malpractice complaint was not a foregone conclusion, Donnelly's negligence did not proximately cause actual damage to Olds until the trial court actually dismissed with prejudice Olds's complaint against Dr. Donahue in 1991. Only then did Olds suffer real and substantial, as opposed to speculative, damage. See Grunwald, supra, 131 N.J. at 495, 621 A.2d 459 (reasoning that actual damage is "real" not "speculative") . To trigger the statute of limitations, only the fact, not the amount of damages need be certain. ”

“ The better response is not to distinguish litigation malpractice from other kinds of malpractice, but to exempt all attorney-malpractice actions from the entire controversy doctrine. The Rules of Professional Conduct still require an attorney to notify the client that he or she may have a legal-malpractice claim even if [NJ443] notification is against the attorney's own interest. ”

“ Subject to the rules of the Supreme Court, the Law Division and the Chancery Division shall each exercise the powers and functions of the other division when the ends of justice so require, and legal and equitable relief should be granted in any cause so that all matters in controversy between the parties may be completely determined. ”

“ Consistent with that approach, we confine our holding in this case to attorney-malpractice claims, without reaching other claims, such as "second-litigation malpractice claims against accountants, architects, engineers, physicians, or psychologists." Post at 451, 696 A.2d at 647. [A645] For present purposes, we note simply that legal malpractice claims uniquely raise the specter of forcing a party in an action to sue the same lawyer who is representing that party in the action.
We have always emphasized that preclusion is a remedy of last resort. ”

“ Our expectation was that once an attorney notified a client of a possible malpractice claim, the trial court would have the discretion to manage the case. Circle Chevrolet, supra, 142 N.J. at 293, 662 A.2d 509. On further consideration, however, we believe that the risk of the disclosure of privileged information and the generally adverse effects on attorney-client relationships outweigh any [NJ442] benefit from requiring a client to assert a malpractice claim in the pending lawsuit. ”

“ Although we do not suggest that potentially negligent attorneys would misrepresent facts, an attorney charged with malpractice, like any other litigant, would have an incentive to testify guardedly when sued by a former client. ”

“ In particular, mandatory party joinder assures that all potentially responsible persons will participate in the original action. Id. at 25, 560 A.2d 1169. Requiring the joinder of all parties with a material interest in a litigation thus guarantees a complete determination of liability, avoids prejudice to absent parties, and prevents a duplication of lawsuits. Id. at 25-26, 560 A.2d 1169. The touchstone of mandatory party-joinder is fairness both to the plaintiff and to the defendant. ”