Attorney Craig Robinson, together with his former firm Haggerty, Goldberg, Schleifer & Kupersmith (Haggerty Goldberg) of Philadelphia, is accused by the plaintiffs of slipping up on their slip-and-fall case while Robinson was otherwise distracted with face time on national television.According to a report in The Legal Intelligencer (4/7/14), plaintiffs Luis and Migdalia Santiago had brought a personal injury case described as a slip-and-fall. It should be noted that the two plaintiffs are also embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings.
All seemed to be fine until attorney Robinson signed on to serve as one of 25 contestants for the nationally telecast Bachelorette TV show. The plaintiff in the legal malpractice lawsuit against Robinson and his former firm alleges that when The Bachelorette came calling, Robinson “neglected and abandoned” the Santiagos’ state slip-and-fall case.
The malpractice law action also alleges that the attorney selected by co-defendant Haggerty Goldberg to take the case from Robinson just prior to trial for the slip-and-fall case, was ill-prepared. The trial ended with a judgment of non pros.
The Chapter 7 trustee for the estates of Luis and Migdalia Santiago, Christine Shubert, accuses Robinson and Haggerty Goldberg of professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract.
Malpractice lawsuit defendant wants to save the courts some work
Robinson, and his malpractice lawyer, has responded by attempting to move the legal malpractice case out of bankruptcy court. That’s where the malpractice case wound up, given that the plaintiffs were already embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings when the malpractice is alleged to have occurred.
According to The Intelligencer, Robinson’s motivation for removing the legal malpractice case against him and his former employer from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania was an attempt to shield the courts from extra work.
According to court documents, Robinson filed a motion for withdrawal of reference and a supporting memorandum April 2 in US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. To that end, Robinson’s memorandum argued that the legal malpractice action against him and his co-defendant does not belong in bankruptcy court, partly due to a claim that the action is “non-core” to the bankruptcy proceeding.
The legal malpractice lawyer representing Robinson, Arthur W. Lefco of the firm Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin in Philadelphia, noted in an e-mail to The Intelligencer last week (April 3) that such motions are fairly routine, “where a trustee sues in tort under state law,” and specifically contemplated under Title 11 of the US Code - otherwise known as the Bankruptcy Code.
The plaintiff in Robinson’s legal malpractice lawsuit filed her action the day after Christmas of last year, alleging that Robinson’s candidacy for The Bachelorette derailed him from properly focusing on the Santiago case.
Fans of The Bachelorette (Season Six) will remember that Robinson lasted until Episode 6, when he was sent packing. In a published report in Reality TV World (7/1/10), Robinson noted that he survived no fewer than five Rose Ceremonies in spite of spending almost no “alone time” with bachelorette Fedotowsky.
Gossipmongers have a field day
Meanwhile, multi-media gossipmonger Perez Hilton weighed in on a subsequent scandal involving Robinson and a female Bachelorette producer, in a posting in 2011. Karri-Leigh Mastrangelo, a former producer with The Bachelorette franchise who was apparently considering Robinson for a spot on an upcoming season of Bachelor Pad - another reality-based TV show - is alleged to have made attempts to woo Robinson, who reportedly resisted her advances but finally gave in when he thought further resisting would hurt his chances landing on Bachelor Pad.
“It was sort of like sexual harassment, but I realized if I rejected her, I’d probably ruin my chances to be on Bachelor Pad,” Robinson told the Star, in comments posted on thehollywoodgossip.com (7/6/11). “I came to [Los Angeles] to visit a friend and [Mastrangelo] called me. I ended up making out with her, but she wanted more. I wasn’t going to do that,” Robinson is reported to have said at the time.
None of the allegations have been proven in any court of law.
As for his time on The Bachelorette (Season Six), Robinson said in a conference call with reporters following his ouster, “It was kind of confusing to me. I didn’t really know what to think because had she not been that into me, then I don’t think I would have gotten as many roses as I did.” The comments were published in Reality TV World.
“I think maybe that she saw me as a really good friend…”
The plaintiffs in the legal malpractice lawsuit against Robinson and his former firm don’t feel he was a very good friend to them.