Duke Galish LLC v. Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

The plaintiff filed his legal malpractice claim more than four year's after the defendant's alleged breach.

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Duke Galish, LLC, appeals from an order of the Superior Court of Fulton County, which granted summary judgment in favor of attorney James Gober and his law firm, Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP, in this legal malpractice action. For the following reasons, we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant,1 the relevant facts are as follows. James Gober and Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP “AGG” represented Duke Galish, LLC “Galish”, in a property dispute with Kelley Toyota, which, by virtue of a master lease agreement, had an estate for years in property owned by Galish. Gober filed a dispossessory action against Kelley Toyota on June 7, 2001, seeking possession of the premises only. Gober deposed that filing a dispossessory action is only appropriate in a case where there is a landlord-tenant relationship. Although Kelley Toyota was a grantee in possession of an estate for years, not a tenant with a usufruct, Gober deposed that he nevertheless filed the dispossessory action under the theory that the Kelley Toyota’s master lease contemplated dispossessory proceedings as a remedy.

After a few months in litigation, Gober learned that the judge before whom the case was pending disagreed with his theory and intended to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.2 Upon Gober’s advice, Galish voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice on January 16, 2002. Galish fired Gober and hired new counsel who, in a counterclaim to a lawsuit for declaratory judgment initiated by Kelley Toyota, sought both possession of the premises and damages for failing to maintain the premises in good repair. Galish voluntarily settled the second suit, then it sued Gober and AGG for legal malpractice on July 5, 2005.

Duke Galish LLC v. Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

The plaintiff filed his legal malpractice claim more than four year's after the defendant's alleged breach.

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