If an attorney misrepresented you in court and caused you harm financially, you may be able to sue the attorney for legal malpractice. This legal malpractice can occur during any type of lawsuit, including personal injury, real estate, family law (such as divorce or custody cases), property distributions, etc. Within any of these lawsuits, there are only three ways that legal malpractice can be claimed:
- Negligence:
Legal negligence is where most malpractice claims land. Legal negligence refers to when a lawyer’s actions do not use the normal and expected actions necessary in filing a lawsuit. The actions that could potentially be included as negligence are not preparing properly, missing deadlines, not following court orders and failing to file within the state’s statute of limitations for the particular type of lawsuit. - Breach of fiduciary duty
A breach of fiduciary duty refers to the lawyer having a conflict of interest in your court case. This may include representing another person on the opposing side of the same lawsuit, or spending more time in finding more clients than fulfilling the needs of those he or she already in the process of filing a lawsuit. - Breach of contract
If an attorney collects fees, and then fails to complete the tasks/agreements for which the fees were intended, a breach of contract may have occurred.
A legal negligence lawsuit is a difficult case to prove, and what may seem unfair is not always cause for a lawsuit. Consequently, you should find an attorney with the experience & reputation for handling legal negligence matters. If you believe your attorney has wronged you in some way, such as those listed above, you may speak with a second attorney to go over your options and determine if a legal malpractice lawsuit is one of those options. If you are currently in the middle of a lawsuit that you believe your current lawyer is not properly handling, act quickly to speak with your lawyer and if necessary, get a new lawyer. You can always ask for your lawsuit file and get a second opinion at any point during the process.
For assistance with your legal matter, we invite you to call on our trial attorneys to ascertain how the law firm of W. Morris Taylor, P.C., can put over 50 years of legal experience to work for you, call us at (314) 725-7000, or contact us online. Discover how we earned our reputation for excellence and our track record of success.
