Attorney Isabel Del Vecchio had been sparring with opposing counsel in a tough personal injury case when an email she wasn't supposed to see infuriated her.

Del Vecchio had been a lawyer for about eight years. She knew there was tension between her and Michael Carreira, an attorney with Meehan, Roberts, Turret and Rosenbaum, which represents Liberty Mutual. But she didn't expect the allegation in the message Carreira thought he'd sent only to his adjuster in the case.

But there it was in black and white.

“What is she talking about?” Carreira had written. “They have been lying nonstop throughout this case.”

That message and the flurry of heated emails that followed point to a larger issue: decorum—or the lack of it—during contentious interactions in a profession focused on civility.

“The emails are a small bit of the total course of unprofessional conduct that drove this case to trial,” Del Vecchio said. “It was a struggle to work with someone who was telling me one story, and apparently the adjuster and the clients a completely different story.”

'Personal Impressions'

Carreira has been a member of the Connecticut Bar since November 2011. He thought he was communicating with Corey Sharp, an insurance adjuster in Liberty Mutual's Safeco group, when he sent the email that made its way into Del Vecchio's inbox.

When Del Vecchio confronted him, Carreira stood his ground.

“If you think we are lying, maybe you could clarify what you think we are lying about, [as] opposed to defaming me and my law firm to your adjuster,” Del Vecchio wrote back. “This is an unprofessional and an uncalled-for accusation. I take my ethical guidelines very seriously and I do not stand for people accusing me of violations, especially a brother lawyer and arm of the court.”

Carreira's response: “It was in error, but I do think you are not being truthful in your letter. … I am glad you take your representations seriously. Stand by your letter and the contents therein with the judge. We were both there when you asked for a trial continuance in chambers.”

Del Vecchio is an attorney with The Law Firm of Stephen M. Reck & Scott D. Camassar in North Stonington. She was opposing Carreira in a case hinged on Liberty Mutual's decision to appeal a $259,583 bench verdict for New Haven resident Jacqueline Poisson, who had been mauled six years earlier by a Shetland dog mix in her neighborhood. The attack left Poisson, now 73, with a concussion and injuries to her spine, neck and back.

Liberty Mutual had refused to settle at the $100,000 policy limit, and Carreira instead offered $5,000. But once Superior Court Judge Timothy Bates had awarded Poisson $259,583 in damages after a bench trial, Liberty Mutual returned to the negotiating table to say it would settle for $100,00 to avoid an appeal. This time, Del Vecchio refused and sought to collect the judgment for her client.

“You pay for insurance so you are protected in cases like this,” she said.

Carreira declined to be interviewed for this article, but referred all inquiries to Liberty Mutual's public affairs department.

In an email, Liberty's senior public relations consultant Adrianna Kaufmann apologized for the exchange.

“Liberty Mutual and the defense counsel assigned to handle this litigation appropriately litigated this matter to a fair resolution. During the case pendency, a confidential attorney client communication was inadvertently misdirected to plaintiff counsel,” Kaufmann wrote in an email. “Pursuant to the applicable rules of ethics, plaintiff counsel was advised that the receipt of the email was unintended. At the time defense counsel shared his personal impressions of events that transpired during litigation. In doing so, defense counsel used language that was regrettable and not in keeping with expectations. We apologize for this unfortunate choice of language to communicate his opinion.”

'Distasteful But Not Unethical'

The rules governing attorney conduct set out a proper protocol for lawyers who receive emails not intended for them. In most cases, attorneys must either delete or sequester the message, and then inform the sender of the error.

“Typically, [the sender] will say, 'Delete it,' and that is the end of it,” said Andrew Berman, one of Florida's top ethics lawyers.

But that's easier said than done when attorneys find themselves to be the subject of behind-the-scenes chatter.

“There have always been jerks in the profession, that is nothing new,” said Berman, a 35-year attorney who is a shareholder at Miami-based Young, Berman, Karpf & Gonzalez. “There are more lawyers and more competition for business. … A lot of lawyers who interact do not have any prior relationships with one another, and therefore civility suffers.”

Berman reviewed the email exchange at the Connecticut Law Tribune's request. He called the messages “post-trial jockeying that is perhaps a bit more spirited,” but said they didn't rise to the level of ethics violations.

“I don't see any judge or bar lawyer getting overly animated about it,” he said.

Brennen Maki, a Farmington-based solo practitioner, agreed.

“It is distasteful, but not unethical,” he said.

But like Del Vecchio, Maki found himself at odds with Carreira's and Liberty Mutual's litigation and communication styles. He said the emails did not surprise him after his experience as plaintiff counsel in 2017 for a Liberty Mutual client with a car insurance claim.

“I became concerned because the case was not settling and there was exposure for my client beyond the policy limits,” Maki said. “My position was that if you roll the dice on this case, you must make sure my client is protected. … [Carreira] became testy and said that I should not lecture him. They hung the insured out to dry. That is quite common with this law firm and this insurance company.”