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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 law case usually to protect the interests of a minor child. Family law litigants often become frustrated with the guardian ad litem. Here the frustrations mounted after the guardian submitted a fee petition.

This case is unusual in that the guardian was appointed to protect the interests of the plaintiff husband, who was suffering from extreme depression. Here, the plaintiff’s causes of action of negligence, fraud and legal malpractice were dismissed on the ground that the guardian ad litem was immune from suit. The court held that the negligence and fraud causes of action were barred by quasi-judicial immunity.

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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 legal malpractice, arguing that they failed to prevent the deportation.

The defendant lawyers argued that the representation ended when the green card was issued. Therefore, under their logic, they did not commit legal malpractice by failing to prevent the deportation of the plaintiff.

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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 two-year statute of limitations in Illinois. 735 ILCS 5/13-214.3(b). Breaches of fiduciary duty are governed by a five-year statute of limitations. The question presented was which statute of limitations applies when a lawyer is alleged to have aided and abetted a breach of fiduciary duty. Plaintiff argued that the two-year statute of limitations only applies in legal malpractice cases. The court, relying on the plain language of Section 13-214.3(b) disagreed because the text of the statute does not refer specifically to legal malpractice claims.

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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 that the response allegedly revealed confidential information.

The ARDC alleges:

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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 Solutions and Enterprise Profit Solutions Corporations in connection with plaintiffs’ purchase of EPS stock. The fee agreement provided for “a contingent fee equal to twenty-five (25) percent of any and all money or other benefits recovered on the claims.”  In the underlying case, plaintiffs obtained settlements with some defendants and obtained an arbitration award against EPS. However, EPS’s insurers refused to pay the arbitration award.

In 2007, Joyce retained Morgan Lewis to file suit against the insurers of EPS.

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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 obtaining a financial recovery if there is an error or omission by the lawyer.  Lawyers who have insurance have also passed muster with the insurance company, which does some research on each lawyer it covers.

For lawyers, having insurance means that the lawyer can obtain defense counsel in the event of a lawsuit or ARDC grievance.

Before you hire a lawyer, you should check with the ARDC website and determine if your lawyer has insurance.

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Steinmetz v. WOLGAMOT, Ill: Appellate Court, 1st Dist., 1st Div. 2013 – Google Scholar.

In 1997, Dr. Steinmetz enrolled in a program known as AEGIS, which the defendants informed him would protect his assets and reduce his tax liabilities. The IRS disagreed and sent Dr. Steinmetz a deficiency notice on December 31, 1999. Years later the doctor sued the promoters of the tax shelter for fraud and his lawyer for legal malpractice.

The trial court granted the lawyer’s motion for summary judgment and the appellate court affirmed. In Illinois, the discovery rule applies. The plaintiff must bring his case within two years of the discovery of the legal malpractice. Here, the plaintiff claimed that he was unaware of the problem for many years (while his tax controversy with the IRS was being resolved). The Court disagreed. It held that the statute of limitations was triggered on December 31, 1999, when he received the Notice of Deficiency from the IRS. Because the doctor did not bring his case until December 2005, his claim was barred.

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Opinion – this article appeared in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin on Tuesday August 13, 2013.

 

By Edward X. Clinton, Jr.

The ARDC has charged a 2007 Northern Illinois graduate, Reema Bajaj, for her role in criminal conduct, namely pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of prostitution, lying to the ARDC and failing to answer some questions accurately in her application to be a member of the Illinois bar. According to the ARDC complaint, which can be found on its website, Ms. Bajaj engaged in sex acts for money.  In 2011, she was charged with prostitution by the States Attorney of DeKalb County. The case has received extensive coverage from the website abovethelaw.com and other media outlets.  I have never met Bajaj and know of this case only through media reports.

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The case is captioned, Klever Belisario Miranda v. Michael H. Said, 11-0552, Supreme Court of Iowa, July 19, 2013.

This is an immigration malpractice case. Plaintiffs were two citizens of Ecuador who entered the United States without documents. Their son, Cesar, joined them in 1995. They gave birth to another child, Ronaldo, in 1998.

In 2005 Klever received notice of a removal order. He consulted with Said. Said allegedly advised him to return to Ecuador and have his son Cesar sponsor him and Nancy for citizenship once Cesar obtained citizenship.  He advised Cesar to use form I-130, which permits a citizen to sponsor a relative’s application for citizenship. Further, he advised the plaintiffs to use form I-601, which permits an applicant who is otherwise ineligible, to be admitted into the country based on “extreme hardship” to a qualifying relative.

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Grace v. Law, 2013 NY Slip Op 5383 – NY: Appellate Div., 4th Dept. 2013 – Google Scholar.

This is a New York case in which the defendant lawyer raised an important issue: in a legal malpractice case is the plaintiff required to exhaust all of his appeals in the underlying litigation before she can bring the legal malpractice action?

The answer is “No.”  The plaintiff is allowed to resolve or abandon the underlying case.

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