Ling v. Bda&K Business Services

This is a professional negligence case in which appellee accountants prepared tax returns and contend they relied on outside legal opinions concerning tax positions taken in the returns. The parties offer differing characterizations of the professional duty the accountants owed to their clients under these circumstances. The trial court granted a traditional and no-evidence summary judgment in favor of the accountants, BDA&K Business Services, Inc. (the Accountants). In three issues, twenty-two parties, including Michael Ling, other individuals, and their wholly-owned business entities (the Ling parties) collectively challenge both the traditional and no-evidence summary judgment. We conclude that accountants owe their clients a duty to exercise reasonable care applicable to the accounting profession. Whether an accountant fulfilled his duty to render services in accordance with acceptable professional standards by conforming to the standard of conduct is typically a question of fact. Because the summary judgment evidence raises questions of material fact about whether the Accountants reliance on outside tax opinions conformed to an accountants professional standard of conduct, we reverse the trial courts traditional summary judgment on the Ling Groups negligence and malpractice claims and remand the case to the trial court. However, the record does not reflect the time for discovery was inadequate. Therefore, we affirm the trial courts no-evidence summary judgment on the remainder of the Ling Groups claims.