I often receive phone calls and emails from people who believe that they have a legal malpractice claim against their current lawyer. Most of these claims are not malpractice claims, often because the underlying matter or lawsuit is not finished. So, someone calls and says that her lawyer missed court…
The case is Davis v. Cohen & Gresser, 2018 NY Slip Op 02542, a legal malpractice case filed against a law firm. Davis alleged that the law firm allowed the statute of limitations to run on RICO claims by failing to name to key parties in a lawsuit. The court ultimately concluded…
The case is captioned Robert Iuffues Webb II v. Janice Holmes, 2018 IL App (3d) 170167. Webb, who is not licensed to practice law, alleged that he had assisted Holmes with certain federal litigation. It is not clear exactly what the federal litigation involved. He alleged that he entered into an…
The case is Alexander Prout v. Anne C. Vladeck & Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C., 18 CV 260 (S.D. New York June 10, 2018). Prout alleged that he retained Vladeck to represent him in connection with claims against his former employer, Invesco. He further alleged that Vladeck advised him to…
One issue that arises frequently in legal malpractice cases is – to whom does the lawyer owe a duty? Here, a condominium owner sued the lawyer for the condominium association for breach of contract. The court dismissed the case and the Colorado Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal. The Colorado Supreme…
The case is captioned William Molim Siu v. The Cavanagh Law Firm, 1-CA-CV 17-0601 (Arizona Court of Appeals). Siu sued his former lawyer for alleged negligence in handling Siu’s divorce case. The divorce case was heard by an Arbitrator who ruled that certain property owned by Siu before the marriage became…
One question which comes up frequently is whether a client can sue his former lawyer for legal malpractice based on what the client believes is an inflated legal bill. A legal fee dispute is essentially a breach of contract case filed by the lawyer against the former client. Here the…
An estate hired a lawyer to act as the co-executor of the estate. The lawyer was paid on a percentage basis – 3% of the gross amount of the Estate. (In Illinois this type of payment arrangement is illegal. However, in Kentucky is it is perfectly legal). Of note is…
The law firm inserted a fee-shifting clause in its retainer agreement, providing that the “prevailing party” was entitled to attorney fees. The text of the clause is as follows: “”In the event of a dispute between you and the firm regarding any matters relating to the retention . . ., the prevailing party shall be…
Sometimes things get missed or lost in the shuffle when clients change lawyers. It is often difficult to get the new lawyer up to speed in time to get a case ready for dispositive motions or trial. When I see that the client had numerous lawyers involved in a case, that…