CHANG v. LEDERMAN Part-I
More than a half century ago, in Biakanja v. Irving (1958) 49 Cal.2d 647 (Biakanja), the Supreme Court held, notwithstanding the absence of privity, a notary public, engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, who drafted and supervised the execution of a will, owed a duty of care to the beneficiary who lost her inheritance due to his negligence. Three years later, in Lucas v. Hamm (1961) 56 Cal.2d 583 (Lucas), the Court held beneficiaries whose bequests arguably failed because the testator's lawyer did not adequately safeguard the will from challenge under the rule against perpetuities could assert a claim for professional negligence against the lawyer. Under Biakanja and Lucas and the appellate cases that explain and apply them, does a testator's lawyer owe a duty of care to a nonclient who alleges she was a potential beneficiary of the testator's estate in the absence of an executed will or trust instrument expressly reflecting the testator's intent? Does the answer to the question change if the nonclient was previously named in a will or trust instrument executed by the testator and the allegation is the testator intended to revise his or her estate plan to increase the gift to the beneficiary? Because recognizing an expanded duty of care in either situation would place an intolerable burden on the legal profession, we conclude the answer to both questions must be no. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's order of dismissal and the judgment entered after it sustained without leave to amend Gregory Lederman's demurrer to Myung Chang's second amended complaint for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and intentional infliction of emotion distress.
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