Illinois has a rule that allows a plaintiff to dismiss a case once. The plaintiff can then refile the case. The rule does not allow multiple dismissals. In Webster Bank v. Pierce & Associates, P.C., No. 16 C 2522 (N.D. IL March 14, 2019), the court denied a defendant law…
This case, Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP v. Paul Fletcher, et al, 16-cv-02453 (S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division) (April 18, 2019) illustrates the necessity of obtaining expert testimony to support a claim. Fletcher brought a malpractice claim against his former counsel after counsel sued for legal fees. Fletcher alleged that the attorneys…
In this case, Eskridge v. Fletcher, Court of Appeals of Washington, Division One, No. 78013-1-l, a medical doctor sued the lawyers who unsuccessfully represented him in his license revocation proceeding. The record indicated that there was substantial evidence that Dr. Eskridge had acted inappropriately towards other doctors and patients. As…
In a malpractice case, the plaintiff must show that the lawyer breached the standard of care and that the lawyer’s error cost the client money. In most cases, the only way to prove this is to examine the underlying case. The underlying case is the prior case that was handled…
In a legal malpractice case, the plaintiff is required to prove a case-within-a-case or that had the lawyer met the standard of care the plaintiff would have won the case. The case here is Roumbos v. Vazanellis and Thiros & Stracci, Case No. 45S03-1710-CT-635. decided by the Indiana Supreme court on April…
When you sue a lawyer for a breach of the standard of care, you must prove proximate causation. If the underlying matter, was a lawsuit, you must show that, but for the negligence, you would have won the case. Here, the lawyer was hired to pursue a lawsuit for insurance…
One of the more vexing issues in the area of legal malpractice is what happens when the plaintiff settles the underlying case. In most states, the plaintiff would have to prove that but for the negligence of the defendant attorney, he would have obtained a better financial result in the…
The underlying case was routine and it arose out of an automobile accident. The defendant lawyers filed suit timely as to most of the defendants, but they failed to file a timely case as to one defendant. The underlying case settled for $10,000. The lawyers won a summary judgment motion…
This unpublished opinion resolves an appeal in a legal malpractice case. The plaintiff sued his lawyer despite the fact that the lawyer settled the underlying case (a medical malpractice case) for $1.5 million. The Defendant attorney moved to dismiss the case on the ground that the plaintiff was judicially estopped…
This case, Fox v. Seiden, has already made two trips to the Illinois Appellate Court. It is interesting because it is the rare case in which the court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff. The underlying case was captioned Multiut Corp. v. Draiman. The current case was brought…