Civil Practice : Partnership –  Fiduciary Duty –  Law Firm Dissolution

(1)Where appellant, a law firm partner involved in a dispute over the dissolution of the firm, challenged the trial court’s award of judgment against him for breach of fiduciary duty, evidence that the appellant refused to timely record his time or bill clients despite the demands of his partner and clients and possibly with the intent to lower his income for divorce proceedings showed a violation of his fiduciary duty to the partnership, and the judgment is affirmed because the appellant did not show that jury instructions gave a roving commission or were confusing, and the appellant was not entitled to a portion of his partner’s profits from post-dissolution work.

(2)Where respondent, a law firm partner involved in a firm dissolution, challenged a jury trial as a re-trial of his accounting claims, the judgment is reversed in part because the appellant was not entitled to have the jury determine the issue of his partnership share a second time.

Judgment is affirmed in part; reversed in part.

Finch v. Campbell (MLW No. 71245/Case No. WD80283 – 25 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Howard, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Powell, J. (J. Kirk Rahm for appellant) (Cynthia C. Campbell for respondent).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)