Wolfe v. Wolf

              FIFTH DIVISION
August 17, 2007
No. 1-06-0161
GINA M. WOLFE, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Cook County.
)
v. ) No. 05 L 3590
)
ILENE WOLF, ) Honorable
) Jeffrey Lawrence,
Defendant-Appellee. ) Judge Presiding.
PRESIDING JUSTICE O'BRIEN delivered the opinion of the court:
This appeal involves two cases that were consolidated before the trial court, one being a legal
malpractice action brought by the plaintiff, and the other a breach of contract action brought by the
defendant to which plaintiff had filed a counterclaim. Plaintiff appeals the order of the circuit court
granting defendant's motion under section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-619
(West 2000)) to dismiss plaintiff's legal malpractice complaint and her counterclaim in the defendant's
breach of contract action. On appeal, plaintiff argues the trial court erred in ruling that judicial
estoppel barred plaintiff from bringing her legal malpractice complaint and her counterclaim. We
reverse and remand for further proceedings.
On or about May 10, 2003, plaintiff retained defendant to represent her in the underlying
divorce proceeding, In re the Marriage of Gina M. Pinsler and Bruce Pinsler. After negotiations,
plaintiff entered into a settlement agreement with her former husband on advice from defendant that
the agreement was the "best [plaintiff] could do" and that the terms would give plaintiff more than
if the case were to go to trial. The settlement agreement was incorporated into the judgment for
dissolution of marriage granted on June 9, 2004. At the prove up, plaintiff testified that she