877 So. 2d 935 - Jacob v. Barton’s Empirical Analysis
2004
Citation profile
6 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Riggs National Bank of Washington, D. C. v. Zimmer · 824 So. 2d 172 - First Union Nat. Bank v. Turney · 715 So. 2d 979 - First Union Nat. Bank v. Whitener · Ball v. Mills · Progressive American Ins. Co. v. Lanier
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Thus, when confronted with the issue, at hand here, a court must decide whose interests the attorneys represent-the trustee’s or the beneficiary’s. First Union Nat’l Bank of Fla. v. Whitener, 715 So.2d 979, 982 (Fla.5th DCA 1998). Usually, a lawyer retained by a trust represents the trustee, not the beneficiary, even though the fees are paid with trust funds that would otherwise go to the beneficiary. First Union Nat’l Bank v. Turney, 824 So.2d 172, 185-86 (Fla.1st DCA 2001); see also Compson, 629 So.2d at 851. If the attorney represents the trustee, the trustee holds the lawyer-client privilege. See § 90.502(2),(3)(a), Fla. Stat. (2001); Whitener, 715 So.2d at 982 ; Compson, 629 So.2d at 851. In some circumstances, however, the beneficiary may be the person who will ultimately benefit from the legal work the trustee has instructed the attorney to perform. See, e.g., Riggs Nat’l Bank of Washington, D.C. v. Zimmer, 355 A.2d 709, 711 (Del.Ch.Ct.1976) (noting that legal memorandum concerning trust tax issues, written before beneficiaries’ litigation against trustee began, was prepared for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries) (cited in Compson, 629 So.2d at 850). In that situation, the beneficiary may be considered the attorney’s “real client” and would be the holder of the lawyer-client privilege. Whitener, 715 So.2d at 982 . But if the “real client” is the trustee, the beneficiary would have to prove the existence of some exception to overcome the privilege. Id.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.