Fox Rothschild LLP is facing pushback in a New Jersey state court as two siblings, Doreen Fernandez and Dawn Taffuri, argue the firm’s attempt to dismiss their malpractice claims is premature. The siblings allege that Jerome A. Deener, a lawyer now employed by Fox Rothschild, mishandled their late stepfather’s 1984 property deed and 1993 trust, depriving them of a valuable land parcel.
Allegations of Legal Malpractice
Fernandez and Taffuri claim Deener’s alleged negligence led to their stepfather’s biological children being mistakenly recorded as owners of a 2.52-acre property. This land, which hosts an income-generating parking lot for a medical center, was previously leased to the sisters and their mother. After their mother’s passing in 2016, a title search revealed the ownership discrepancy, resulting in the medical center securing a quitclaim deed from the stepfather’s biological children in 2020.
The medical center subsequently sued Fernandez and Taffuri, seeking a declaratory judgment that the siblings had no rightful claim to the property. The sisters retained Fox Rothschild and Deener in 2023 to investigate the alleged error, leading to their malpractice suit when the situation remained unresolved.
Fox Rothschild’s Dismissal Efforts
Fox Rothschild moved to dismiss the lawsuit in October, asserting that the firm had no professional relationship with the plaintiffs during the period when the alleged errors occurred. The firm argued that its limited involvement with the sisters in 2023 did not establish a duty of care to support a malpractice claim. The court converted the dismissal motion into a summary judgment motion.
