Whether or not a case is barred by the statute of limitations in the legal malpractice context is not a matter of science, but rather of art. Indeed, you may think the case you filed was timely and a thoughtful defense lawyer will use the facts to creatively argue that…
Chicago Legal Malpractice Lawyer Blog
New York Court Uses Judgment Call Rule to Dismiss Legal Malpractice Claim
The opinion in Lloyd’s Syndicate 2987 v. Furman, Kornfeld & Brennan, LLP, 2020 NY Slip Op 02365 is pithy but worth considering. Apparently the law firm advised an insurance company that it could deny coverage to a policyholder. That decision proved to be in error and the insurance company sued…
What Constitutes “Exoneration” Sufficient to Sue Criminal Defense Counsel?
This is another very important and recurring issue in the legal malpractice field. Most states have a rule that provides that a criminal defendant cannot sue his former attorney unless he establishes that he is actually innocent. Texas prefers the term “exoneration.” This year the Texas Supreme Court, in Gray…
Lawyer’s Defense That He Made A Judgment Call Is Rejected By Alabama Court
One defense in a legal malpractice case is that the lawyer exercised judgment (usually at trial) and, therefore, he should not be liable for legal malpractice. One way to explain this is to make an analogy to the role of a baseball manager. In my example, the manager’s team is…
Successor Counsel Defense Defeats Legal Malpractice Claim
In Moreton Binn v. Muchnick, Golieb and Golieb, P.C. 2020 NY Slip Op 02020, the plaintiffs sued their lawyers for allegedly poor advice causing them to lose majority control of a series of corporations they owned. The court rejected the claims for a variety of reasons. First, some claims were…
Court Upholds Dismissal of Legal Malpractice Case With Clear Negligence But No Proximate Causation
The case, Herren v. Armenta, No. 1-CA-CV-18-0381 (Arizona Court of Appeals January 14, 2020) is a legal malpractice case where Herren lost her underlying case, a business dispute. As we shall see, despite evidence of negligence she also lost the legal malpractice case. In the underlying matter, Herren hired Armenta…
Some Reasons Why We May Reject A Potential Case
This video contains a short discussion of why we may reject a case.
What to do about that negative review on Google or Yelp
I have prepared a short video to discuss how to respond to negative reviews. The key issue is that a lawyer cannot share any confidential information about a client and cannot disparage a client or former client.
Plaintiff Convinces Court That No Expert Is Needed To Prove Legal Malpractice
It is extremely rare for a plaintiff to succeed in a legal malpractice case without obtaining an expert witness to testify as to the appropriate standard of care. Plaintiffs who attempt to prevail without an expert usually see their case dismissed on a summary judgment motion by the Defendant. However,…
District Court Analyzes Damages Available In a Malpractice Case
Generally, in Illinois, the successful plaintiff in a legal malpractice action can recover from the lawyer the same damages that he could recover in the underlying case. So, in a personal injury case, the plaintiff can recover (a) economic damages, such as medical bills and lost wages and (b) pain…