Chicago Legal Malpractice Lawyer Blog
The case is Tebbens v. Levin & Conde, 2018 IL App (1st) 170777. Tebbens believed that his former divorce counsel made an error in drafting the marital settlement agreement and drafted an agreement that was not consistent with what the parties had verbally agreed to. This is a tough case to win as Tebbens signed the agreement. The defense would ask why he did not read what he had signed. However, Tebbens made a further and fatal error to his malpractice claim.
The Divorce statute allows a lawyer to file a fee petition before the judge who heard the divorce. Here Levin & Conde filed such a fee petition. Tebbens made the mistake of alleging malpractice in his response to the fee petition. The court ruled against him and awarded fees. Then Tebben sued for malpractice. The problem is that the doctrine of res judicata barred his claim because the malpractice issue has already been heard and decided in the fee petition case.
This is a litigation blunder that I have personally witnessed on several occasions. As the Eminem song says “you get one shot, one opportunity” to allege legal malpractice. “Don’t let it slip.” You won’t get a second chance.