"As Mr. Townsend's claim similarly 'second guesses' the defendant-attorneys' strategy not to sue Karlie Milstein, and merely speculates that he would have recovered more money if she had been a party, we agree with the trial court and the defendant-attorneys that the Muhammad rule applies and precludes Mr. Townsend's negligence cause of action," Bender wrote. "His negligence claim is no more than an 'expression of frustration and dissatisfaction with the amount of the 2016 settlement.'"

Judges Anne Lazarus and Eugene Strassburger joined Bender's 22-page opinion.

According to court documents, the motor vehicle case underlying the legal malpractice suit stemmed from a collision that occurred in 2011, when Townsend was standing behind his car after it ran out of gas along Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia. A Jeep Cherokee struck him as he was reaching into the truck for a gasoline can and crushed his lower extremities.

Dr. Harold Milstein owned the truck, court papers said, and his daughter, Karlie Milstein, was seated in the passenger seat at the time of the crash. The driver was Samuel Kemp, who later testified that he fell asleep at the wheel after Karlie Milstein had given him Xanax and Percocet, court papers said.

Townsend retained Spear Greenfield and sued Kemp and Harold Milstein.

Harold Milstein had a primary insurance carrier of $500,000 and a $2 million umbrella policy. The parties went to mediation in 2016, and the case was settled for $702,800.

In September 2017, Townsend sued Spear Greenfield, saying the firm's failure to sue Karlie Milstein for negligent entrustment improperly limited Townsend's ability to recover in the case, and that he was fraudulently induced to settle.

However, Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas dismissed the case on summary judgment, saying the Muhammad reasoning applied.

On appeal, along with arguing that Muhammad should not immunize attorneys for legal errors that form the basis of a settlement, Townsend contended that he had been fraudulently induced into the settlement, since nobody mentioned that Karlie Milstein could have been sued.

However, the Superior Court looked to Townsend's deposition in the legal malpractice case and said he failed to provide enough evidence to make a fraudulent inducement case, since he appeared to remember very little about his communications with the Spear, Greenfield firm.

"In fact, he admitted that he could not remember the specific substance of any of the communications he had had with anyone at Spear, Greenfield and Richman, P.C., during the underlying case," Bender said, adding that he agreed with Massiah-Jackson's determination that "[Mr.] Townsend's testimony relaying the circumstances of the legal representation and settlement does not meet any threshold for 'clear, direct, weighty and convincing' proof."

Forbes Bender Paolino & DiSanti attorney Gary Bender, who represented Townsend, did not return a call for comment, and Timothy Ventura of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, who represented Spear Greenfield, declined to comment. Rand Spear of Spear Greenfield also did not return a message seeking comment.