The Bachelorette’s Craig Robinson sued for malpractice, allegedly bailed on client to be on show

Sometimes fame (even just a smidgen of it) can have a price, and for former Bachelor Pad and The Bachelorette contestant Craig Robinson, that price comes in the form of battling a malpractice lawsuit alleging he “neglected and abandoned” his clients in order to be on the show!

The complaint alleges that Robinson was representing Luis and Migdalia Santiago in a “slip-and-fall” case when he was replaced just prior to trial by another attorney so he could appear on Season 6 of The Bachelorette (starring Ali Fedotowsky). Robinson’s replacement, whom the suit claims was unprepared, filed a motion for a continuance, but it was denied by the judge, resulting in the case being tossed out.

From The Legal Intelligencer:

The complaint alleged that, unbeknownst to Shubert, the Santiagos’ bankruptcy trustee, Robinson “neglected and abandoned” the Santiagos’ personal injury case after being cast as a contestant on “The Bachelorette,” which required him to spend a significant amount of time traveling around the country and overseas.

The complaint alleged that Haggerty Goldberg [Robinson’s law firm at the time] knew Robinson was not devoting enough attention to the case but failed to alert Shubert and the Santiagos.

The complaint also alleges that Robinson’s replacement, Dory Slater, who is not named in the suit, used the fact that he had been given the case a few days prior as he reasoning in his request for a continuance. That continuance, as we mentioned above, was denied with the trial court finding that Robinson’s firm had known about his problem for a while and failed to act on it promptly. As a result, the case was tossed.

The malpractice action was tied up in bankruptcy court due to the fact that the original plaintiffs in the slip-and-fall case, Luis and Migdalia Santiago, were in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings when the initial case was heard. However, a motion to have the case removed from bankruptcy court to allow for a jury trial, a motion later granted by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Savage.

You can read all about the legal arguments for having the case withdrawn from bankruptcy court, as well as more details about the initial case, over at The Legal Intelligencer.