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…