Liggett v. Young
Indiana Supreme Court
877 N.E.2d 178 (2007)
Builder Ronald Liggett (plaintiff) built a house for his attorney, Dean Young (defendant), and Young's wife, using a standard preprinted construction contract to which Young added a clause prohibiting scope changes unless made in writing. After a materials supplier sued Liggett, Liggett brought a third-party complaint against the Youngs alleging the parties had verbally agreed to cost-increasing change orders; the Youngs counterclaimed for negligent, untimely work and invoked the written-change-order clause. The trial court granted partial and final summary judgment for the Youngs on all of Liggett's claims, and Liggett appealed, challenging the enforceability of a contract drafted between an attorney and his own client.
Whether business transactions between an attorney and her client are presumptively invalid, except for a standard commercial transaction that the client generally markets to others, or until the attorney establishes that the transaction was fair and reasonable to the client.