It is not a newly discovered idea to sue the lawyers.
The notion that we should sue all the lawyers has been around for a long time, but in the last 20 years the practice area of legal malpractice has greatly increased.
And at the end of the day - when desired results are not obtained, it is now not an uncommon consideration that "when all else fails" consideration shifts to the option of bringing a civil action against the very same person(s) who you once trusted and confided in to bring you desired results.
It is no longer an isolated action - it is a common place event and occurrence of daily litigation to find legal malpractice actions filed not only in New York City, but everywhere and anywhere a courthouse is located.
After all - even the best attorneys make mistakes!
But the option of bringing a lawsuit against an attorney requires more than the opportunity for vented anger of revenge to succeed - and the fact remains that while everyone can make a mistake not every negligent acttion by an attorney will constitute a claim for legal malpractice.
Lawyers are not insurer!
Lawyers can make a mistake of judgment - and they can be negligent but the negligent action may not be the cause of the harm.
To constitute a claim for legal malpractice the individual or entity who files the action must initially have had an attorney client relationship.
The attorney - or law firm, must have had a duty which was not executed consistent with good and accepted practice which is a cause of pecuniary loss.
Said another way - the conduct complained of must be capable of being proven that "but for" the claimed error you would have not been damaged.
And that omission must be a proximate cause of your damage.
And the claim must be filed within 3 years of the time when the claimed omission took place or within 3 years after the last date when the attorney or lawfirm performed services to the client in reference to the specific transaction which is the subject of the legal malpractice claim.
And while this sounds simple in concept, arriving at a successful result - often is not that easy to do because in the defense of such claims it if is possible to demonstrate that any one of the elements cannot be proven, the action will fail.
This purpose of this blog will to provide general information about this interesting pracrtice area of the law so that the issues are better understood and to present a discussion on emerging issues.
To be continued........Sherwood Allen Salvan
