McBurney v. Roszkowski

• Decision Date: 15 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. 1999-496-Appeal.,1999-496-Appeal.
• Citation: 875 A.2d 428
• Parties: John F. McBURNEY v. Joseph J. ROSZKOWSKI.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

875 A.2d 428

John F. McBURNEY v. Joseph J. ROSZKOWSKI.

No. 1999-496-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 15, 2005.

John F. McBurney, for Petitioner.

John T. Walsh, Jr., Providence, for Respondent.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

In this dispute between two attorneys, the plaintiff, John F. McBurney, Esq. (McBurney), appeals from a Superior Court judgment denying his motion for relief under Rule 60(b) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure. This case was consolidated for oral argument with McBurney v. Teixeira, 875 A.2d 439 (R.I.2005) pursuant to an order directing all parties to appear and show cause why the issues in the respective appeals should not summarily be decided. After considering the arguments of counsel and examining the memoranda filed by the parties, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown and that the case should be decided at this time. For the reasons stated below, we deny McBurney's appeal and affirm the Superior Court judgment.

Facts and Background

This case is but another chapter in an ongoing saga among a number of parties, all stemming from the legal representation of Shirley Salerno Bergeron (Bergeron) in the late 1980s and into 1990. We hope that this appeal will indeed be the final act of what has become a sad and sordid affair. The records of this matter and of its companion case, McBurney v. Teixeira, which we decide contemporaneously with this appeal, establish the following pertinent facts and history.

On June 25, 1987, Bergeron was involved in an automobile accident in which she sustained personal injuries. As a result, she retained the legal services of McBurney, a veteran attorney in the State of Rhode Island, and the two entered into a contingency fee agreement. Around the same time, attorney Joseph J. Roszkowski (Roszkowski), also a seasoned member of the Rhode Island bar, was appointed to represent Bergeron as an indigent defendant in a wholly unrelated criminal matter then pending in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

While Roszkowski was acting as Bergeron's counsel in that criminal matter, McBurney claimed that he made a number of false representations to Bergeron regarding the manner in which McBurney was handling her personal injury case. This, according to McBurney, prompted Bergeron to reject a proposed settlement offer, discharge McBurney as her attorney in the personal injury matter, and hire Roszkowski to handle the case. Angered, McBurney sued Bergeron on June 12, 1989, demanding compensation for unpaid legal services.

In June 1994, nearly five years after initiating suit against his former client, McBurney brought suit directly against Roszkowski. In that complaint, McBurney alleged that Roszkowski had tortiously interfered with his contractual relationship with Bergeron by advising her to reject the settlement offer that McBurney had obtained in her personal injury case. In addition, McBurney alleged that Roszkowski had directed Bergeron to file a false and defamatory complaint against him with the Disciplinary Counsel of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.¹

McBurney's case against Roszkowski was reached for trial on March 20, 1999. After only a day and a half of trial, however, Roszkowski and McBurney agreed to settle. On March 29, 1999, the parties executed a stipulation providing "Judgment for Defendant." Soon thereafter, the parties executed a "General Release and Confidentiality Agreement." The terms of the settlement provided as follows:

"KNOW ALL MEN THAT JOHN F. McBURNEY, JR., and MCBURNEY LAW SERVICES, INC., a professional corporation (hereinafter `Releasors'), in consideration of the sum of * * *, to them paid by ATTORNEY JOSEPH J. ROSZKOWSKI, and ZIMMERMAN, ROSZKOWSKI & BRENNER, ATTORNEYS, their heirs, executors, representatives, agents, employees, attorneys, affiliates, associates, insurance carriers, successors and assigns (hereinafter `Releasees'), the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby remise, release and forever quitclaim unto said Releasees, (and to any and all other persons, firms, or corporations, their employees, agents, servants, representatives, officers, directors, successors and assigns, whether now known or unknown who are, or may in the future be determined to be liable to Releasors, for and on account of the matters and occurrences hereinafter set forth), any and all manner of actions, causes of action, debts, dues, claims and demands, both in law and in equity, more especially, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, any claim of any nature whatsoever, whether known or unknown, anticipated or unanticipated, arising out of any cause of action which was brought or could have been brought in connection with that action pending in Providence County Superior Court, * * * entitled: John F. McBurney v. Joseph J. Roszkowski."²

McBurney maintains that shortly after settling the case, however, he was surprised to learn that the settlement stipulation had specified judgment for defendant rather than the more customary dismissal with prejudice. As a result, McBurney filed a "motion to correct the record" under Rule 60(b), asserting that he had neither consented to nor given his attorney the authority to enter into a stipulation specifying "Judgment for Defendant." After a hearing, a justice of the Superior Court denied the motion, and McBurney appealed to this Court.

While the appeal was pending, this dispute took another serpentine twist when McBurney, on March 22, 2000, commenced another separate cause of action against attorney Armand A. Teixeira. In his complaint, McBurney alleged that Teixeira, while working as an associate of Joseph Roszkowski at the Woonsocket law firm of Zimmerman, Roszkowski & Brenner, also had interfered in McBurney's contractual relationship with Bergeron. McBurney claimed that he and Bergeron had reconciled in March 1990, and that she had rehired him around that same time. According to the complaint, Teixeira, on or about April 6, 1990, informed Bergeron that McBurney had lied to her about the very existence of a proposed settlement in her personal injury case, causing the client to fire McBurney for a second time.

Teixeira soon moved for summary judgment. To support his motion, Teixeira first maintained that McBurney was prohibited from asserting a claim against him by the general release and confidentiality agreement, which applied to not only Roszkowski, but his entire firm, including its employees and associates. Secondly, Teixeira argued that McBurney's suit was indistinguishable from and arose out of the same misconduct alleged in the original complaint against Roszkowski. Thus, Teixeira claimed, McBurney's suit was barred by the applicable ten-year statute of limitations.

In response to Teixeria's motion, McBurney asserted that he had never signed a portion of the general release and confidentiality agreement. He contended that although he had signed the release in his individual capacity, he had not signed the document in the capacity of a corporate officer for McBurney Law Services, as the document purported. Thus, McBurney argued, his signature was either forged or spliced onto the release agreement from another source.³

We originally heard oral argument in this matter on January 23, 2001. However, because McBurney's allegations of fraud and forgery had not yet been heard before a trier of fact, we refrained from making a decision at that time. Instead, we remanded the case to the Superior Court for the following findings of fact:

"(1) whether McBurney's attorney had actual or implied authority to enter into the stipulation, dated March 23, 1999, providing for the type of judgment entered; and (2) whether, on a document entitled `General Release and Confidentiality Agreement,' the signatures purporting to be those of McBurney individually, and on behalf of McBurney Law Services, Inc., are genuine."⁴

On remand, the Superior Court⁵ conducted five full days of extensive hearings between June 7 and July 23, 2001, during which both parties presented several witnesses. First, McBurney's attorney, Cristine McBurney,⁶ testified that McBurney specifically had agreed to the judgment stipulation providing "Judgment for Defendant." Cristine testified that at no time had she presented a stipulation in any other form to McBurney. The witness also testified that she personally observed McBurney sign the general release and confidentiality agreement.

McBurney, on the other hand, testified that he had never consented to the stipulation providing "Judgment for Defendant." Rather, he testified that on March 23, 1999, he signed a settlement stipulation in the courtroom that contained more commonly-used language providing for a dismissal with prejudice. McBurney also testified that although he had signed the release agreement in his individual capacity, he never had signed as a corporate officer for McBurney Law Services. Because the document contained a signature purporting to be McBurney's in that capacity, he testified, that signature was either forged or spliced onto the document in question.

Kathleen McBurney (Kathleen), an assistant at McBurney Law Services and a member of the family, as well, also testified at the hearing. According to the witness, she received a faxed copy of the general release and confidentiality agreement at the law offices shortly after McBurney had returned from court on March 23, 1999. Kathleen testified that as soon as she received the fax transmission, she gave it to McBurney for his signature. A short while later, McBurney returned the document to her, and she briefly reviewed it. According to Kathleen, the release was "fully executed." She added that when he handed the signed release to her, McBurney instructed her to mail the documents to Roszkowki's attorney.

Next, John Walsh, attorney for Roszkowski, testified that he...