The Georgia Supreme Court upheld a jury's legal malpractice award of more than $641,000 in compensatory damages against Alston & Bird, agreeing with the Court of Appeals that a trial judge erroneously apportioned the bulk of the damages to a nonparty.

While fault and damages may be apportioned between a plaintiff and defendant or defendants, the justices' Aug. 10 opinion said that, in cases involving a single defendant, damages cannot be reduced by fault allocated to a party not named in the litigation.