This case is instructive for plaintiff lawyers because it is a reminder that, if the client has filed for bankruptcy, the claim for legal malpractice may belong to the bankruptcy estate. Because the alleged negligence occurred before the bankruptcy petition was filed, the claim belonged to the bankruptcy estate. Source:…
The underlying case was routine and it arose out of an automobile accident. The defendant lawyers filed suit timely as to most of the defendants, but they failed to file a timely case as to one defendant. The underlying case settled for $10,000. The lawyers won a summary judgment motion…
This unpublished opinion resolves an appeal in a legal malpractice case. The plaintiff sued his lawyer despite the fact that the lawyer settled the underlying case (a medical malpractice case) for $1.5 million. The Defendant attorney moved to dismiss the case on the ground that the plaintiff was judicially estopped…
This opinion arises in an unusual procedural setting – plaintiff sought summary judgment on liability. Plaintiff claimed that an estate planning attorney erred in drafting a Will. The documents are quoted here: On August 19, 2006, Elizabeth executed a revised Last Will and Testament presented to her by Defendants. (Id.…
It is unfortunate that this case was not published, but it is still worth considering. The plaintiffs sued their lawyer who had drafted a Stock Purchase Agreement under which they sold their stock in a privately held company. When the company was sold, there was litigation pending. The parties negotiated…
The plaintiff filed a malpractice claim against her divorce lawyers. However, her claim did not succeed because she did not provide expert testimony. That testimony, from a family law lawyer, would be necessary to show negligence. This is one of those truths that we cannot repeat enough times – an…
Lawyers have rights to hold the client’s file or other property as security for payment. Here the lawyer held on to a former divorce client’s file indefinitely. The client eventually sued the lawyer for legal malpractice – under the theory that the lawyer had no right to hold the file.…
For the convenience of the reader, we have taken older posts (2011 to 2013) and put them in a document in our dropbox. Feel free to download them by clicking here. Edward X. Clinton, Jr.
Goldstein was retained as a mediator by Barrett and his then wife. After meeting with the couple, Goldstein drafted a post-nuptial agreement that Barrett and his wife later signed. (A post-nuptial agreement is one that a married couple enters into while a prenuptial agreement is entered into before the marriage).…
This case is interesting because it dismisses a legal malpractice claim because the expert did not reveal how the negligence of the attorney caused the injury of the plaintiff. The opinion does not shed as much light on the facts of the case as I would like it to. However,…