A qui tam case is a case in which a plaintiff, usually a former insider, sues his former employer on behalf of the United States and alleges that the United States was defrauded. The plaintiff is referred to as a “relator.” The relevant statute is the False Claims Act, 31…
KELLEY & WITHERSPOON, LLP v. Hooper, Tex: Court of Appeals, 5th Dist. 2013 – Google Scholar. When the claim is that a lawyer breached the duty of care and thereby lost a case, the plaintiff must prove a case within a case, that is, that but for the lawyer’s negligence…
Par via Malm v. MOMKUS McCLUSKEY, LLC, Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2013 – Google Scholar. This is a link to an unpublished decision denying a motion for Rule 11 sanctions in a legal malpractice. The client was sued in connection with a business transaction in the Northern District of Georgia.…
RAFOOL v. Evans, Dist. Court, CD Illinois 2013 – Google Scholar. This is a legal malpractice case where the plaintiff claimed that the defendant lawyers were negligent in failing to instruct the plaintiff to draw on a letter of credit prior to filing bankruptcy. The court held that there was…
McClintock v. West, Cal: Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate Dist., 3rd Div. 2013 – Google Scholar. The Illinois courts have held that a guardian ad litem is immune from a lawsuit from one of the parties. A guardian ad litem is a lawyer appointed by the court in a family…
Koch v. PECHOTA, Dist. Court, SD New York 2013 – Google Scholar. This is an immigration malpractice case where the lawyers were hired to represent a woman to help her obtain a green card. They apparently succeeded in that effort. Later, the plaintiff was deported. She sued the lawyers for…
800 SOUTH WELLS COMMERCIAL, LLC v. HORWOOD MARCUS AND BERK CHARTERED, Ill: Appellate Court, 1st Dist., 4th Div. 2013 – Google Scholar. Plaintiff alleged that Horwood Marcus & Berk (HMB) aided and abetted a breach of fiduciary duty by Nicholas Gouletas and John Cadden. Legal malpractice is governed by a…
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD. Avvo.com is a website that rates lawyers. Most lawyers have profiles on the site, even if you do not “claim” the profile. Here, a client criticized a lawyer on Avvo and the lawyer made the mistake of responding to the review in detail. The problem was…
The case is captioned Walter Duemer v. Edward T. Joyce and Associates, P.C., 2013 IL App (1st) 120687. This case involved a fee dispute between Joyce, the attorney, and his former clients. In 2002, Joyce agreed to represent the plaintiffs in securities litigation with Deloitte & Touche, Jeffries Company, EPS…
In Illinois, a lawyer is not required to obtain legal malpractice insurance. If you want to know if your lawyer has legal malpractice coverage, you should go to www.iardc.org and review the lawyer’s listing under “Lawyer Search.” Obviously, if the lawyer has insurance coverage, you have a better chance of…