On December 31, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in Henry S. Miller Com. Co. v. Newsom, Terry & Newsom, LLP, 2024 Tex. LEXIS 1177 (Tex. 2024), on the issue of whether a client can pursue a claim against its attorney where the underlying plaintiff - now its judgment creditor - has a financial interest in the client’s recovery and completely changes his position to assist the client in obtaining that recovery. 

Although there has long been a general prohibition on the assignment of a cause of action for legal malpractice, the supreme court held in Miller that a malpractice plaintiff is not precluded from bringing a malpractice claim where its judgment creditor has a financial interest in the recovery of the legal malpractice case if certain factors are present:  the client brings the claim in its own name, and…