This is an opinion affirming the dismissal of a legal malpractice claim against divorce attorneys. Plaintiff alleged that her former attorneys did not “ascertain the full extent of her former husband’s income, and failed to make an adequate record before the matrimonial court regarding her former husband’s level of adherence…
This is a decision of the Nebraska Court of Appeals reinstating a legal malpractice claim against a personal injury attorney even though the underlying case was settled. The defendant attorney urged the client to accept a $45,000 settlement of a personal injury claim arising out of an auto accident. The…
The plaintiff sued a lawyer for legal malpractice. The lawyer failed to timely report the legal malpractice claim to his carrier and the claim was denied. The plaintiff then sued the insurer directly with no success for the same reason. Because the lawyer failed to report the claim to the…
It is very common that someone will come into my office and explain that he is a victim of legal malpractice. Often, for reasons I don’t understand, the person waits more than two years after the underlying judgment before they contact me. By waiting this long, the statute of limitations…
This is an old but sad story: a plaintiff in federal court misses the expert disclosure deadline and then the entire case is lost. The district court has the authority to set deadlines for expert disclosure and can enforce those deadlines. After the plaintiffs failed to disclose an expert, the…
The plaintiff, Cynthia O’Neal, brought a legal malpractice claim against her former lawyers. O’Neal, an owner of a restaurant chain that fell on hard times, alleged that her former lawyers had a conflict of interest when the represented her company and the opposing party in an assumption of a lease.…
This case is typical of divorce malpractice cases. The plaintiff sued his former lawyers on the ground that they did not adequately address a potential problem of his settlement agreement with his wife. The problem, apparently, was that after the divorce the plaintiff was unable to refinance a loan on…
This case, Sanford v. Maid-Rite Corporation, 15-2424, is significant because it allowed lawyers to appeal a decision to deny their motion to withdraw. Even better it reversed the decision of the district court. The case was a class action filed by current and former franchisees against Maid-Rite. The plaintiff alleged…
An Ohio court has affirmed a verdict in favor of a legal malpractice plaintiff. By itself, that would not be worth discussing. However, the result of the case, a verdict of $1,192.12, was a clear disappointment for the plaintiff. The underlying case was an auto accident in which the plaintiff…
It is always a risk to talk to the media. Here, in a pithy opinion, The New York Appellate Division, First Department upheld a legal malpractice claim against a law firm. “Plaintiff alleges that he would not have lost his contractual right to certain deferred compensation if his attorneys had…