A photographer forced into bankruptcy may sue his former attorney after a federal appeals court ruled the lawyer should have known the claim was groundless.

U.S. Trustee John P. Lowe, suing on behalf of Jerry Hayes and his company, Champion Printing & Co., appealed a federal district court’s ruling that essentially adopted a bankruptcy judge’s findings of facts and conclusions on Lowe’s attempt to bring a legal malpractice action against attorney William B. Gammon and the Gammon Law Office.