Rodowicz v. Feldman, Perlstein & Greene, LLC 3:20-cv-00777 D. Conn. 2024 was a legal malpractice suit where the plaintiff claimed that he lost the underlying litigation (a breach of fiduciary duty by a trustee case) because of his lawyers’ negligence. He had no expert and summary judgment was granted in…
One of the major barriers to success in a legal malpractice case is the requirement to obtain an expert. The expert, usually a lawyer or professor, can offer testimony on how the conduct at issue did not meet the standard of care. Conversely, the defense expert will testify that the…
It is extremely rare for a plaintiff to succeed in a legal malpractice case without obtaining an expert witness to testify as to the appropriate standard of care. Plaintiffs who attempt to prevail without an expert usually see their case dismissed on a summary judgment motion by the Defendant. However,…
The case is captioned Patterson v. Kohn, 2017 AP 1524, decided by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Patterson sued his former criminal defense lawyer for failing to properly investigate his defense (self-defense to a reckless homicide charge), and interview witnesses. Patterson was unable to obtain an expert witness to support…
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…
This case is potentially important. It addresses a long-running issue – when a plaintiff must hire a legal malpractice expert. The Plaintiff must do so when expert testimony is needed to explain the standard of care to the jury. Here, the lawyer was hired to file a Medicaid application on…
This case is interesting because it dismisses a legal malpractice claim because the expert did not reveal how the negligence of the attorney caused the injury of the plaintiff. The opinion does not shed as much light on the facts of the case as I would like it to. However,…
In Barkal v. Gouveia and Associates, the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed a grant of summary judgment for an attorney defendant. The decision was issued on December 27, 2016, and will be published. Barkal alleged that Gouveia breached the standard of care and caused him damages when he failed…
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…
This is an old but sad story: a plaintiff in federal court misses the expert disclosure deadline and then the entire case is lost. The district court has the authority to set deadlines for expert disclosure and can enforce those deadlines. After the plaintiffs failed to disclose an expert, the…