## Facts

- Joyce Ann Wilson, a minor, was injured when struck by an автомобиле driven by Bruce Sartin, who was insured by Coronet Insurance Company.
- Joyce, through her mother Patricia Wilson, sued Sartin; Coronet retained attorney Marvin S. Lansky and his firm to defend Sartin.
- Wilson offered to settle for Sartin’s $15,000 policy limits twice; Coronet refused and proceeded to trial.
- A jury returned a $3,625,000 verdict against Sartin, far exceeding policy limits.
- Sartin assigned to Patricia Wilson his purported claims against Coronet and defense counsel, including a claim that Lansky and the firm breached fiduciary duties by failing to disclose conflicts and by favoring Coronet’s interests.

## Issues

1. Whether a client’s cause of action against his attorney for breach of fiduciary duty is assignable to a third party.

## Decision

- The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed dismissal of the assignee’s breach-of-fiduciary-duty count against Lansky and his firm.
- The court held that a claim against an attorney for breach of fiduciary duty is not assignable.
- Because the claim was nonassignable, the assignee lacked standing, and the court did not reach the merits of whether a breach occurred or whether the pleading was otherwise sufficient.

## Legal Principles

- Claims arising from an attorney’s professional obligations to a client, including breach of fiduciary duty, are treated as legal-malpractice-type claims for assignment purposes.
- Legal malpractice and attorney fiduciary-duty claims are nonassignable due to the personal and confidential nature of the attorney–client relationship.
- Public policy disfavors assignment because it risks commercialization of attorney-liability claims, threatens attorney–client confidentiality, and could distort attorney loyalty and litigation conduct by exposing counsel to suits by adversaries or their assignees.

## Conclusion

The court held that an attorney breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim cannot be assigned to an injured plaintiff or other third party, and it affirmed dismissal of the assignee’s fiduciary-duty count on that threshold nonassignability ground.


Wilson v. Coronet Ins. Co., 689 N.E.2d 1157 (Ill. App. Ct. 1997)