An attorney was properly disqualified. He represented plaintiff C in a case in which plaintiffs A, B and C were all seeking the same $2 million from the same pool of funds, while at the same time representing plaintiff A in a separate lawsuit. The dual representation created an actual conflict between two existing clients since any penny plaintiff C recovered in the first suit was one less penny that plaintiff A would recover in the suit. Moreover, the attorney was properly disqualified due to successive representation as well. Until disqualified from doing so, he had represented plaintiffs A and C in the first suit and during that time had acquired confidential knowledge of A’s finances through hiring an expert to audit plaintiff A.
California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 6 (Gilbert, P.J.); September 4, 2018; 26 Cal. App. 5th 966