by Andrea Jackson, Times-News, www.magicvalley.com

A Twin Falls lawyer is fighting a lawsuit slapped against him by a former client claiming negligence, and has filed paperwork to dismiss the case in Twin Falls 5th District Court.

William Hollifield, of the Hollifield Law Office in Twin Falls, is being sued by Amanda Fomichev, a former client who hired him as a personal injury lawyer after she lost a leg when she was hit by a vehicle while working as a car wash attendant almost four years ago at Lynch Oil Inc.’s Mr. Wash.

Fomichev claims Hollifield didn’t protect the $100,000 settlement he won for her in March 2007 from the insurer of the driver who struck her. She claims he left her with none of the settlement money, according to her lawsuit filed in February.

Hollifield was paid $33,652.43 from the $100,000 settlement and the remaining $66,347.57 went to the Idaho State Insurance Fund in March 2007 to cover Fomichev’s medical bills that totaled more than $100,000, according to court records.

Fomichev claims Hollifield breached his duty to her by forwarding settlement money to the state insurance fund, because “there was sufficient evidence to deny or limit the subrogation claim as the employer’s negligence was a comparative cause of her injuries.”

She claims in court papers that Hollifield’s “blind acceptance of ISIF’s (Idaho State Insurance Fund) defensible subrogation claim was a breach of his duty to plaintiff and directly and proximately resulted in her loss of $66,347.57.”

In her lawsuit, Fomichev asserts that the state’s claim could have been denied or limited because “employer’s negligence was a comparative cause of her injuries” for allegedly failing to adequately train staff and inform the customer who struck Fomichev to put her car in park or neutral, according to court records.

Hollifield, however, claims Fomichev “cannot show the elements of professional negligence,” according to his motion to dismiss the case filed by Sean Coletti and Timothy Hopkins of the Idaho Falls-based firm Hopkins Roden Crockett Hansen & Hoopes. “Plaintiff simply has not stated a claim that indicates Hollifield failed to perform any duty that he owed Fomichev based on their attorney-client relationship.”

Fomichev and Hollifield want each other to pay their attorney fees, court records show.

Meanwhile, Fomichev faces perjury charges for allegedly providing a false alibi for a man, Patrick Morrissey, who was convicted of arson and conspiracy to commit arson in August of 2008. Morrissey was accused of burning a vehicle for car insurance money.

Fomichev has pleaded not guilty to the felony perjury allegation, with a hearing set for Sept. 14 in Twin Falls 5th District Court. Hollifield’s motion to dismiss Fomichev’s lawsuit is set for a hearing on July 24.

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 1:45 pm and is filed under 5th. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.