Firm News

The Case-Within-A-Case-Within-A-Case

By Will Jordan Remember that movie Inception? Truth be told, we could no more summarize its plot than read War and Peace in its original Russian. But, we know it had something to do with dreams within dreams within . . . you get the point. Today, we turn our attention to the Inception of […]

Firm News

Pennsylvania Legal Mal Case Dismissed for Discovery Abuse

By Will Jordan Law360 reports on the dismissal of a legal malpractice case due to discovery abuses by the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs alleged their attorneys incorrectly calculated the applicable statute of limitations for an underlying medical malpractice claim. After what appears to have been repeated failures to comply with the court’s discovery orders, including failing […]

Firm News

Staying the Legal Mal Case Pending Appeal of the Underlying Case

By Will Jordan There’s an interesting article at law360.com about an ongoing legal malpractice lawsuit filed by the developers of a Native American casino project in Oklahoma. The developers brought suit in the fall of 2013, claiming the firm’s negligent representation resulted in a federal court granting a temporary injunction against the proposed casino. At […]

Firm News

The Case-Within-A-Case Analysis is Objective, Not Subjective

By Will Jordan It’s a quiet day in the world of legal malpractice court decisions . . . nothing of great interest for us to report. Sigh. So, we’ll take this opportunity to remember an important feature of the familiar case-within-a-case doctrine: the standard is objective, not subjective. Courts have recognized that the test under […]

Firm News

Adnan Syed and the Interplay Between Legal Malpractice and Post-Conviction Relief

By Will Jordan Imagine our delight when the words “Adnan Syed” popped up on our Facebook timeline yesterday. Six months after completing our binge of the Serial podcast, which told the tale of Adnan’s conviction for the murder of his high school classmate and ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, there finally is an update. And the […]

Firm News

No Liability for Failing to Advise Clients on Item Clients Could Have Discovered by Reading Their Insurance Policy

By Will Jordan Clients brought a legal malpractice action against their attorney, alleging the attorney failed to advise them that a claim against their home insurer had to be filed within one year of the date of the loss. The Court affirmed summary judgment in favor of the attorney, noting that the insurance policy expressly […]

Firm News

E.D. Ken. – Important Limitation to the Continuous Representation Rule

By Will Jordan We’ve written about the continuous representation rule a few times on this blog. (See here and here). As the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky noted, the continuous representation rule tolls the statute of limitations on a legal malpractice claim “so long as the attorney continues to represent the […]

Firm News

OH – Expert Testimony Required in Legal Mal Case Involving Alleged Conflict of Interest

By Will Jordan Attorney agreed to represent Client in the underlying case, despite a potential conflict of interest about which he warned Client. Shortly after undertaking the representation, it became apparent that Attorney did, in fact, have a conflict. Attorney moved to withdraw from the representation and was relieved as counsel. Client, unhappy with the […]

Firm News

The Unavailability of Emotional Distress Damages in Legal Malpractice Claims

By Will Jordan A lot of jurisdictions don’t have any law addressing the ability of a legal malpractice plaintiff to recover damages for emotional distress. But, just within the last couple of weeks, at least two courts have recognized that emotional distress damages generally are not recoverable in the context of a legal malpractice case. […]

Firm News

AK – The Difficulty of Proving Malpractice in a Criminal Case

By Will Jordan We spend most of our time on this blog talking about legal malpractice decisions in which the underlying matter is civil in nature, not criminal. But, it’s worth noting the difficulty a plaintiff faces when asserting legal malpractice arising from representation in a criminal case. While a plaintiff asserting a legal malpractice […]