When a lawyer files a lawsuit on behalf of a client, he is not exercising his own right to petition, and a later legal malpractice claim related to that underlying lawsuit is not subject to dismissal under the Tennessee Public Protection Act. In Cartwright v. Hendrix, No. W2022-01627-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Dec.…
Where plaintiff filed a legal malpractice claim based on an attorney’s advice regarding a contract to purchase real property, summary judgment for the attorney was affirmed because the contract terminated before the attorney was hired, and the plaintiff therefore could not show causation or proximate cause. In Buhler v. Lefkovitz…
Plaintiff’s legal malpractice claim against the attorneys who drafted her fiancé’s will accrued when she filed an answer to the will contest brought by the fiancé’s surviving relatives. In LaChappelle v. Tual, No. W2024-01234-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 18, 2025), the plaintiff had hired defendant attorneys to draft a will…
The plaintiff could not prove his Tennessee legal malpractice claim without expert proof that the defendant law firm breached the standard of care. In Mamadou v. Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi, P.C., No. CT-3240-23 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 22, 2025) (memorandum opinion), the plaintiff was represented by the defendant law…
Plaintiff’s legal malpractice claim against the attorneys who drafted her fiancé’s will accrued when she filed an answer to the will contest brought by the fiancé’s surviving relatives. In LaChappelle v. Tual, No. W2024-01234-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 18, 2025), the plaintiff had hired defendant attorneys to draft a will…
A legal malpractice claim filed eighteen months after the Court of Appeals affirmed the underlying conviction was time-barred. In Lee v. Richardson, No. M2024-01130-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 21, 2025), the Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a pro se legal malpractice complaint based on the statute of limitations. The…
The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently ruled that public policy did not prevent an insurance company from bringing a legal malpractice claim against its insured’s attorney as the subrogee of the insured. In Westport Insurance Corporation v. Howard Tate Sowell Wilson Leathers & Johnson, PLCC, No. M2023-01168-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App.…
In a legal malpractice case where one of plaintiffs’ own experts admitted that the law regarding a certain type of tax liability was unsettled at the time defendant attorneys advised plaintiffs, the jury verdict for defendant was upheld. In Estate of Hawk v. Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel P.C., No. E2022-01420-COA-R3-CV…
Plaintiff’s legal malpractice claim accrued when he received the order stating that some of his claims in a previous case were dismissed with prejudice. In Abdou v. Clark, No. M2023-01461-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 3, 2024), plaintiff hired defendants to represent him in a lawsuit against several individuals. During the…
The Tennessee Public Protection Act applies to legal malpractice claims in Tennessee in certain circumstances. In Cartwright v. Hendrix, No. W2022-01627-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. April 15, 2024), defendants represented plaintiff in multiple lawsuits related to the administration of a trust. Defendants worked for plaintiff on a contingency fee basis. After…