WATKINS v. RICHMAN CASE REPORT
Lawyer's License Revoked After Being Found Negligent.

Case Name: WATKINS FAMILY v. ALAN E. RICHMAN
Counsel for Plaintiffs: Chalat & Koupal PC

FACTS
This legal malpractice action was filed against defendant Alan E. Richman. He is now a protected person represented by his court appointed guardians and conservators. Richman was an attorney who agreed to provide legal representation to recover for injuries, damages and losses sustained by the Watkins family when Amanda Watkins suffered a closed head injury while she was watching the Lord of the Boards ski race at Copper Mountain on February 28, 1999. During the race, a competitor named William Love lost control, and crashed over and through the race course barrier and into a group of spectators including Amanda Watkins.

As a proximate result of the incident of 28 February 1999, Amanda Watkins sustained a Closed Head Injury (CHI) and a stellate laceration that was closed by sutures. The CHI proximately caused a traumatic brain injury that in turn has caused a permanent organically-based cognitive impairment. This impairment is characterized in the higher level information processing and executive functioning. Amanda suffers from deficient short-term verbal memory, and has problems with encoding and registration of verbal information. Further, as a result of the incident Amanda sustained a mild to moderate impairment in fine motor coordination in both hands.

The Watkins family claims damages against Richman for the value of their loss of the claims less the amounts obtained in settlement. Among other things, Mr. Richman negligently filed the case in federal court [Civil Action No. 01-RB-101(BNB)] (the "federal court action") which created a jurisdictional bar to a later joinder of in-state defendants under the diversity statute. Furthermore, Richman's original filing failed to name proper parties as defendants. Richman failed to name Copper Mountain, William T. Love, Copper Mountain Ski Team, and Team Summit as defendants in the original action and otherwise failed to file a case against said parties, failed to adequately prosecute the action that was filed against EXP in the federal case that he did file, failed to keep the plaintiffs adequately informed of the proceedings, and allowed the statute of limitations to run against the adult Watkins plaintiffs on their claims against Love, Copper Mountain and the ski teams, committed other acts of negligence and malpractice, and otherwise failed to meet the standard of reasonable care in his representation of the plaintiffs herein.

On May 10, 2002, the United States District Court conducted an evidentiary hearing, during which hearing the court found that Richman had committed "gross malpractice," and that he was disabled and that he "has been unable to practice law since the time he was retained." Ultimately, Richman's license to practice law was suspended.

The Watkins family then retained Jim Chalat to represent the family in the claims arising from the Copper accident and for claims of legal malpractice against Richman. Chalat pursued in state court the claims on behalf of Amanda Watkins which Richman had negligently failed to bring, to wit: against Copper Mountain, Inc., the Copper Mountain Ski Team, Team Summit and William T. Love.

Amanda Watkins has entered into settlements with Copper Mountain, Inc., the Copper Mountain Ski Team, EXP and Team Summit. Her claim against Love is set for trial.

The Watkins family claimed that but for Richman's negligence they would have prevailed on the underlying claims arising from the 28 February 1999 incident and would have received greater value than they have obtained in the limited nature of their success in settlement of the underlying claims. A confidential settlement was reached between representatives for Alan Richman and the Watkins a month before trial was to begin.