EILEEN McNELLIS-WALLACE, ET AL. VS. JOSEPH HOFFMAN, JR., ESQUIRE, ET AL. (L-1429-18, GLOUCESTER COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-1488-19T1)
Applying the three-step sequential analysis of Beauchamp v. Amedio, 164 N.J. 111, 118 (2000), in this legal malpractice action to ascertain the last possible date a motion to permit a late tort claim notice could have been filed to preserve plaintiff's medical malpractice claim, we reverse, on leave granted, the denial of third-party defendant attorney's motion to dismiss his predecessor's contribution claim. Because the Beauchamp analysis makes clear that plaintiff's claim was irretrievably lost by the first lawyer who represented her, a year before the second lawyer entered his appearance, the first lawyer could have no claim for contribution against his successor. Accordingly, the second lawyer's motion to dismiss the third-party complaint for contribution and indemnification should have been granted as a matter of law.
