The case is Farley v. Koepp, 14-1695. The lawyer for the plaintiff had until March 11, 2013 to file a civil rights case. Here is what happened: On March 8, 2013, the lawyer opened an electronic case file in the Southern District of Illinois. He then emailed a copy of…
Chicago Legal Malpractice Lawyer Blog
You Need A Lawyer – Well, Maybe Not
Can an estate file a lawsuit without retaining a lawyer as counsel of record? The Sixth Circuit has held that it can if the pro se litigant (not a lawyer) is the sole beneficiary of the estate. The Court explained that if a creditor had a claim against the estate,…
Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Does Not Equal Legal Malpractice
This case, Desetti v. Chester, (Virginia Supreme Court), June 4, 2015, holds that a criminal defendant cannot bring a legal malpractice claim against her former lawyer because she was not factually innocent of the charge. Few legal malpractice cases succeed in the criminal context because the plaintiff (formerly the criminal…
Unhappy Litigant Cannot Sue The Opposing Party’s Lawyer
Workforce Solutions v. Sara L. Pettinger and Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary, P.C., 2105 IL (1st) 121265-U. In 2006, Workforce sued Urban Services of America, Inc., for breach of contract when Urban allegedly failed to pay for $573,000 in services. In 2008, Workforce obtained a default judgment against Urban.…
Appellate Court Affirms Summary Judgment in Litigation Malpractice Case
The case is captioned USF Holland, Inv. v. Radogno, Cameli and Hoag, P.C., Illinois Appellate Court, First District, 2014. The case arose out of an underlying personal injury case in which Holland was sued for damages after one of its trucks collided with a car in Indiana. The Radogno firm…
ARDC Hearing Board Dismisses Charges Against Lawyer
Filed April 27. The ARDC charged a lawyer handling a divorce, Justin Tedrowe, with wrongfully altering a form, obstructing justice and defrauding an opponent. Tedrowe sucessfully defended himself at trial. An accusation that a lawyer altered a document could be very difficult to defend. The ARDC would show that the…
Insured’s Prior Knowledge Of An Error Causes Coverage To Be Denied
One common story that I have observed over the years is that legal malpractice insurers frequently deny coverage on the basis that the attorney knew of his own error (or the possibility of a claim) prior to the policy period. The recently decided case, Synergy Law Group, LLC v. Ironshore…
Legal Malpractice Claim Against Real Estate Lawyer Barred by Statute of Limitations
This is an unpublished decision of the Illinois Appellate Court, captioned Ilija Vasilj v. Harvey Teichman, 2015 IL App (1st) 133955-U. The Appellate court affirmed a decision to grant summary judgment to the lawyer on statute of limitations grounds. The complaint alleged that in 2007 Vasilj purchased the first floor…
California Court of Appeals Upholds Estate Planning Claim Against Lawyer
Paul v. Patton :: 2015 :: California Court of Appeal Decisions :: California Case Law :: California Law :: U.S. Law :: Justia. This opinion discusses an issue which comes up often – to whom does the estate planner’s duty lie? The typical fact pattern of these cases is as…
3rd Circuit Rules Lawyer Violated Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
KAYMARK v. Bank of America, NA, Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit 2015 – Google Scholar. This is a case filed under the fair debt collection practices act. An attorney, acting on behalf of Bank of America, filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Kaymark. Kaymark brought a claim against the attorney and…