Ronald Pierce has once again demonstrated that it pays to pay attention in your legal ethics class. Even more importantly, once you start practicing, remember the rules!

 

Pierce also demonstrates the importance of knowing the laws of your particular jurisdiction. Sometimes there are some very old torts that haven’t been taken off the books yet.

 

Of course, you shouldn’t need ethical rules to know that some things are a bad idea. For example, Mr. Pierce had an affair with a client. Now, unfortunately, that’s not uncommon. But when said client is still married to another one of your clients, it’s a bad idea squared.

 

Pierce had been hired by a husband and wife to represent them in a medical malpractice case. The husband and wife separated, but were still married in October of 2000, when the husband’s private investigator caught Pierce and the wife committing adultery. Needless to say, Pierce’s representation of the husband very shortly ceased, and he himself was soon sued by his former client.

 

Eventually, a jury decided that Pierce had committed “alienation of affection” and breaches of fiduciary duty to the tune of $1.5 million.

 

And the Mississippi State Supreme Court just said, “You betcha! We’ll rubber stamp that baby!” in reference to the verdict. Well, they didn’t use those exact words, but it seems like the Court decided that sleeping with a client is not really something they should just give a slap on the wrist for. The Court held that Pierce does indeed have to cough up the dough.

 

So, what is “alienation of affection”? This isn’t a common tort, but it basically refers to wrongful acts that alienate the affections between married people. Historically, various in-laws have been found guilty of this tort as well.

 

Of course, $1.5 million seems like a lot to be guilty of, but the evidence showed that Pierce “flaunted” his relationship in front of the husband after being found out. Thus, Pierce’s being a total jerk (who rubs it in that you are committing adultery with a man’s wife?) added around $1 million to the verdict.

 

The lesson:  Don’t be a jerk, and don’t sleep with your client’s wife. Don’t sleep with your client either, for that matter. And if this advice seems strange to you, I’d strongly recommend a different career.