Valerie Humphreys vs. Stuart Breakstone

This is a legal malpractice action. The plaintiff is the majority shareholder of a corporation as well as a member of the corporation's board of directors. The defendant attorney and law firm represented the corporation. The plaintiff sued the defendant for professional malpractice, negligence, collusion, and interference in economic development, arising out of the defendant's representation of the corporation. The trial court held that the plaintiff did not have standing to bring a derivative suit in her own name since all of the alleged injuries were suffered by the corporation, not the plaintiff. We affirm, finding that a derivative suit to address injuries to a corporation must be filed in the name of the corporation, and that an individual shareholder may not sue pro se on behalf of the corporation.