“An admission of fault, especially when coupled with an offer to accept the consequences of one’s professional error or omission, can have the salutary effect of saving a relationship and thwarting a lawsuit,” writes Jonathan S. Ziss, a partner in Goldberg Segalla’s Professional Liability Practice Group. “Problem solved, right? Not so fast. There is a catch, and it is one that can take a practitioner by surprise and leave him or her in a far worse position, with every caring gesture turning out to have an entirely unintended consequence.”
In the Winter 2013 installment of Jonathan’s “Liability Lessons” column for the Pennsylvania CPA Journal, a publication of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Jonathan addresses the ways in which such a gesture, while well intended, may be considered a breach of the practitioner’s liability insurance contract — and could potentially spoil malpractice coverage.