Q: Do the attorneys who defended me on a civil case have any obligation to defend me on another civil suit?
A year ago I prevailed in a breach of contract case brought against me. Now the plaintiffs from that case are attempting to sue me for "wrongful use of civil procedures" from the breach of contract case. The plaintiff complains about the manner in which my attorney's defended me in the breach of contract case. Do my attorneys from that case have any obligation to defend me on this new one?
A: No one can answer your question with any degree of certainty without a thorough analysis of all the facts. However, it sounds like a very good possibility that you may prevail in the current case by promptly bringing an anti-SLAPP motion. If so, you would be entitled to recovery your attorney fees from the plaintiffs. You can ask your former attorneys or consult new counsel, but do so quickly.
A:
The question- do your former attorneys have an obligation to represent you in the new suit, is no. However, as Mr. Dorfman points out, this could be disposed of by a civil procedure, and then it could be turned around and become a Malicious Prosecution lawsuit by you against the other side, and its attorneys. A SLAPP motion has a limited time in which it may be brought, so you need to get whichever attorney is going to represent you on board right away.
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Yelena Gurevich agrees with this answer
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