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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that musician George Clinton's malpractice suit against a Seattle-area law firm was barred by California's one-year statute of limitations for such claims. Clinton v. Hendricks & Lewis PLLC, 12-35791. Clinton hired Hendricks & Lewis (H&L) to represent him in litigation against record labels, including Universal Music Group (UMG), in California. But the law firm subsequently severed their relationship with Clinton for failure to pay legal fees and obtained an arbitration award against him for around $1.7 million. In 2011, Clinton sued to overturn the arbitrator's ruling and to obtain over $10 million in damages from H&L. Clinton's suit included a cause of action alleging malpractice in the record label litigation. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled, however, that Clinton's suit was time-barred. Affirming in an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit noted: “Clinton's legal malpractice claim seeks damages for alleged harms stemming from H&L's work on cases that were litigated in California and which arose under California law. Moreover, Clinton seeks punitive damages and prejudgment interest, both of which are prohibited in Washington but permitted in California. Thus, while the attorney-client relationship in this case may have originated in Washington, the specific legal work that Clinton challenges occurred in California.” The appeals court added: “The limitations period began to run on Clinton's legal malpractice claim no later than September 15, 2008, when the Central District of California entered judgment against Clinton in [the UMG case] in which he was previously represented by H&L.” '

State Restriction on Ability to File Suit Bars Claim over Concert Joint Venture