New Jersey Lawyer Liable for Legal Malpractice for Failing to Report Settlement Offer

Trenton, NJVeteran litigator and former state senator Gerald Stockman has been found liable for legal malpractice by a Mercer County jury after neglecting to inform a client of a $400,000 settlement offer in a personal injury case.

In 2007 Stockman was representing Karen Oliver and her husband Gary in a suit that alleged that Mrs. Oliver suffered a debilitating heart attack because an emergency room doctor failed to identify dangerous signs on her electrocardiogram while she was in the emergency room.

Stockman was confident in his prosecution witnesses, and defense attorney Sean Buckley testified that he offered a $200,000 settlement during the three-week trial, increased it to $300,000 at the beginning of deliberations, and finally upped the offer to $400,000 when the deliberations took longer than anticipated, according to Law.com.

Shortly thereafter the jury returned with a verdict in the Oliver's favor, but with an award of only $75,000.

Stockman insists that he told his clients about the offer but recommended against taking it. Gary Oliver, however, remembers the attorney telling them that he had flatly refused the offer.

Though he was upset to have lost the malpractice suit, Stockman told the news provider that he was happy that the Olivers received more money, claiming that "they got shortchanged by the original jury."