In Stogis v. Miller, 2024 Il App (1st) 230379 the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice lawsuit. The lawsuit was dismissed by the trial court on two grounds, the statute of limitations had expired and that there was no attorney client relationship between the lawyer and…
In Jackson v. Law Offices of Peter Sverd, PLLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 30413 (NY Supreme Court 2024), the plaintiff sued her lawyer for malpractice arising out of an appeal of a discrimination lawsuit. The court held that the plaintiff would not have won the appeal under any circumstances so…
In Cook County, if your case goes to trial, you need to bring a court reporter and get a transcript of the trial. If you don’t’ have one, it is very difficult to appeal. We were recently confronted with a family law trial where there is no transcript and no…
Proximate causation is often the issue that defeats a legal malpractice case. In this case, even though a law firm failed to timely appeal an interlocutory ruling, there was no malpractice because the ruling was correct. Thus, even if the appeal had been filed on time, the plaintiff would have…
Fink v. SHELDON BANK, Ill: Appellate Court, 1st Dist., 3rd Div. 2013 – Google Scholar. Illinois has long followed the actual innocence rule, which holds that a criminal defendant may not sue his former attorney for legal malpractice unless he can prove that he was actually innocent of the crime.…
Vermont Mut. Ins. Co. v. McCABE & MACK, LLP, 2013 NY Slip Op 2392 – NY: Appellate Div., 2nd Dept. 2013 – Google Scholar. This case was filed by an insurance company against lawyers who were assigned by the insurance company to handle a subrogation action. The complaint asserted two…
Filed October 5. This is a disciplinary case against Herbert Arthur Bates, an attorney in Illinois. Bates was retained by a convicted criminal to handle his appeal. Bates was paid $10,000. Unfortunately, he missed numerous deadlines and the appeal was dismissed. He also failed to return the transcripts to the…