A Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney attorney wants a Pennsylvania state court to dismiss him from a lawsuit filed by the widow of a Pittsburgh wig-maker, arguing he was acting solely as the attorney for the family partnership she is fighting for millions of dollars from her husband's life insurance policy.
E. David Margolis said Chun Lim Abbott had only sued him because he had been the "face" of the Abbott Family Limited Partnership when he had notified their insurer, Lincoln National Life Insurance, that there was a dispute over the validity of a 2020 "change of beneficiary form" giving Chun Lim first dibs on $4.5 million of a $7.5 million life insurance payout, but he had not taken any actions on his own behalf or done anything that directly harmed her.
"Ms. Abbott admits she sued Margolis because he was the person who notified Lincoln Life of AFLP's claim to the death benefit. Margolis was simply the face of the party Ms. Abbott viewed as blocking her from collecting $4.5 million. This is not a valid basis for a tortious interference claim under Pennsylvania law," said Margolis' brief Wednesday. "...Margolis can no more be liable for tortiously interfering with Ms. Abbott's alleged 'right' to collect $4.5 million than her lawyers can be liable for tortiously interfering with AFLP's attempt to collect the same benefit."
Margolis filed a motion for summary judgment seeking to be dismissed from the case, which he said would not affect the underlying dispute over who got the insurance money.
In a lawsuit filed in January 2024, Chun Lim Abbott said she had been wrongfully denied most of the payout from a life insurance policy taken out on her husband, Dominic Abbott Jr., after the couple made money selling their family wig business to Clairol then moving into investments in real estate, restaurants, hygiene products and pharmaceutical research.
Margolis' brief said that under a 2003 agreement, the Abbott Family Limited Partnership would pay the premiums on the policy if Dominic failed to pay them, with the promise it would be repaid from the death benefits, plus interest. Because Dominic had fallen behind on the payments, the partnership said it was owed $4.14 million by the time he died.
Chun Lim Abbott (sometimes referred to as "ChunLim") said that a 2020 change in beneficiaries had changed the division of the Lincoln Life policy between her and the partnership to give her 60% regardless of the partnership's reimbursements for the premiums. But the partnership claimed that its manager, Joseph DeMartino, had not been authorized to sign the change without the partnership's approval.
Margolis said he had been acting in his capacity as the partnership's attorney when he contacted Lincoln about the dispute over who should get the $4.5 million. Lincoln Life then put the disputed money into an escrow account, which the insurer had previously told the court should excuse it from the lawsuit, too. That request was denied shortly after arguments in August 2024, court records showed.
Aside from claiming he "indirectly" caused the insurer to withhold the payout by informing Lincoln Life of the dispute, Chun Lim could not point to any harm Margolis had caused or actions he had taken outside his capacity as the partnership's lawyer, he said.
"Margolis's communications focused on protecting AFLP's right to receive the death proceeds based upon the terms of the 2003 agreement, while discounting the legal sufficiency of the 2020 beneficiary designation. He had a sound legal basis for making these communications," the lawyer's brief said, later adding, "Margolis acted as a lawyer. Ms. Abbott cannot be permitted to sue him for that."
Margolis also contested Chun Lim Abbott's other theory that he was liable for DeMartino filing an "errata" with the court contradicting the manager's sworn statement that the 2020 beneficiary change had been valid.
At the time he had given his deposition testimony, DeMartino was represented by attorney Robert Barnes of Marcus & Shapira, and it had been Barnes who submitted the errata sheet, Margolis said.
He also argued that Lincoln Life had not known about the errata when it acknowledged the dispute over the change of beneficiary and put the contested money into escrow — DeMartino's testimony had not come until a week after the insurer put its decision into writing.
"Thus, the errata sheet is a red herring. There is no evidence Margolis instigated it, it was immaterial to Lincoln Life's decision in the underlying dispute and the changes made in the errata sheet comply with Pennsylvania rules," Margolis' brief said.
Counsel for Margolis and Abbott did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Margolis and the Abbott Family Limited Partnership are represented by Stanley J. Parker, Samuel A. Hornak and Trisha R. Klan of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.
Chun Lim Abbott is represented by William Pietragallo II, Peter St. Tienne Wolff and Michael O. Bethune of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti LLP.
The case is Abbott v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. et al., case number GD-24-000410, in the Court of Common Pleas for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Deal Summary
