The Macleans claimed he failed to draw their attention to serious deficiencies in the scheme and flaws in the documentation, and after they had entered in an agreement to buy the land, to advise them of the options available to cancel the agreement or refuse to proceed with it.
Mr Annan defended the claims, saying he had not been retained to advise the Macleans at the time they signed the sale and purchase agreement and they entered into it relying on their own judgment.
The defence said that when Mr Annan was in a position to advise them in relation to the transaction, he did so competently.
After four stressful days in court in the middle of last year, the Macleans received the good news just before Christmas that they had won, when Justice Rodney Hansen issued his decision. It ended four years of financial and emotional stress for the couple, who have three daughters.
In the judgment, Justice Hansen noted the Macleans had suffered insomnia, depression, irritability and reduced enjoyment of life.
Mr Maclean told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend the impact of the last four years had been huge.
"It's with you every day - you wake up with it, with Blue Chip on your mind," he said. "We have gone through the whole guilty thing, [like] 'why were we so stupid?'
"I've felt like a fool. I've been grumpy at home, with the kids. I'm trying to run my business, and I've had to work a bit harder just to finance the payments to Blue Chip."
Mr Maclean also been in hospital with heart arrhythmia, which he believed was exacerbated by the stress. Mrs Maclean had suffered insomnia through worry, and had taken part-time work to help make ends meet after more than 20 years as a house mum.
If the Macleans had lost the case, they faced selling their rental property. Hearing they had won and the saga was over was "pretty surreal", Mr Maclean said.
The couple hadn't wanted to go to court and had tried to settle at mediation in 2010. They believe their lawyer should have admitted negligence early on and used his insurance to cover the lost money, saving years of stress for all.
The court case was difficult for the couple, especially when Mr Maclean took the witness stand for a full day and his wife for a half day.
"Even though we knew we had a really good case, you never know how the legal system works," Mrs Maclean said. "We could have lost, and then we would have had to pay him [Mr Annan] damages as well. Now we have got to put it behind us."
The Macleans also lost friends - they had been Mr Annan's clients for 10 years and also family friends.
Mr Maclean said the ruling was "a hollow victory", and the family was still coming to terms with the fact they had won.
"We always said there would be no winners in this, that somebody will come out a little bit better off than the other side."
The Macleans are still out of pocket due to lawyers' fees and other costs but are grateful to have got their investment back so they can start again.
"It's been so stressful, sometimes it's hard to believe that the whole thing is over, because your whole life since 2008 has been revolved around Blue Chip [fall-out]," Mr Maclean said.
"You have altered your lifestyle to revolve around Blue Chip. There's still a lot of anger there."
Their barrister, Daniel Grove, said most similar cases against lawyers were settled out of court.