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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nethercutt, Former Law Partner Sued Seattle Family Contends The Partnership Mishandled A Will

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt is being sued for legal malpractice and conflict of interest in a case involving his former law partnership and a group of people he’s never met.

Three Western Washington residents say Nethercutt’s Seattle partner, Thomas Hayward - and the firm the two lawyers once shared - mishandled legal documents for property left to them in a will.

Because the documents were not properly filed by Hayward, the King County Superior Court lawsuit contends, the three siblings lost their share of their late mother’s Seattle home.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with me, other than my name’s on it,” Nethercutt said Wednesday. The partnership was dissolved in 1995, after he was elected to Congress.

He expects to be dropped from the suit eventually, and also expects Hayward to win if it goes to trial.

“Somebody’s trying to make political hay out of it” by naming him in the lawsuit, he said. “You can say anything you want in a lawsuit. That doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Paul Anderson, the Seattle attorney who filed the case, said the claim should have been settled by the firm’s insurance company. When the insurance company refused, there was no choice but to sue, he said.

“My clients did not want to cause undue embarrassment to otherwise respectable members of the bar,” Anderson said.

The dispute revolves around a house that Gladys Grace Sully of Seattle left to her four children when she died in 1988. A provision in the will said her youngest son, Stephen Sully, could live there as long as he wanted. When he moved, the house was to be sold and the value divided evenly among them.

Hayward, the Seattle-based member of the partnership, was hired by the four heirs to handle the legal work for the estate. He advised the other three siblings - Richard and Malcolm Way and Valerie Williamson - to get a document from Stephen Sully that would give him the home while protecting their interests.

Sully signed promissory notes and deeds of trusts in 1990 that guaranteed each of his siblings their estimated share of the home’s value at that time, $18,127, when the house sold. Hayward was to file these deeds with the county as soon as Sully notified him the house was refinanced, according to the agreement the four siblings and Hayward signed.

Sully later borrowed money using the home as collateral, but the deeds weren’t filed until 1995 when Richard Way called Hayward to ask about the impending sale of the house. By that time, Sully had failed to make his loan payments and the bank foreclosed on the home, selling it for less than he owed.

His three siblings got nothing.

The lawsuit accuses the law firm of malpractice because the documents weren’t filed properly. It also contends Hayward had a conflict of interest because he was Stephen Sully’s attorney before the other siblings hired him to handle the estate.

Nethercutt argues that Sully is the one at fault. He should have told his siblings and Hayward of the loan, and told the bank of the deeds of trust.

“They’re just trying to find someone to sue,” Nethercutt said.

Anderson agreed that Hayward was in charge of the documents and Nethercutt never dealt with his clients. But Nethercutt bears equal responsibility, he argues, as a partner in the firm.

“The law firm of Nethercutt and Hayward is an indivisible entity,” Anderson said.

A trial is scheduled for next May.

, DataTimes