The Court of Appeal of California has ruled that a lawyer may be sued for failure to warn a client that the failure to settle a claim against the client would put the client at risk for paying the adversary’s attorneys fees. The Court held that it was not appropriate to dismiss the…
Here is an interesting article on a lawyer who sues lawyers.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has rejected the notion of a locality rule for lawyers in legal malpractice cases. In Chapman v. Bearfield, No. E2004-02596-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. S. C., November 6, 2006), the Court said that "a single, statewide professional standard of care exists for attorneys practicing in Tennessee and that expert…
Believe it or not yesterday’s post brought in more comments than any other post in a 24-hour period. I have published some of the comments; other comments seemed to address personal situations so I thought it best to pass on those. Let me respond to several of the comments. Bill said…
I am currently defending a legal malpractice case for a friend of mine and have insisted that the plaintiff prove that amount of damages that would have been collectible in the underlying tort case. I have a hearing on this issue coming up shortly; the trial is this Winter. I…
In Pederson v. Barnes the Alaska Supreme Court was faced with the issue of the circumstances under which a guardian’s lawyer is liable to the ward for the guardian’s wrongdoing. Aiken became Barnes’ guardian after Barnes’ parents died. (Barnes was a minor at that the time of their death.) Pederson represented Aiken in…
When a lawyer is sued for negligence in conjunction with the appellate process who decides whether or not the appeal would have been successful, judge or jury? The judge makes the decision, according to the Illinois Supreme Court. The Court said that "the issue of proximate cause in an appellate…
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that executors of an estate can sue the decedent’s attorney for malpractice for negligently providing estate planning advice. In Belt v. Openheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate, Inc., No. 04-0681 (May 5, 2005), the executors claimed that poor estate planning cost the estate $1.5M that…