Plaintiff was the husband in a divorce, and defendant was his attorney.  Husband was advised to tape his wife’s telephone calls.  He gets arrested and hires attorney to defend.  Attorney does not tell client of plea offer, and client eventually is convicted.  Lawyer is disbarred and client now sues.

This case is from North Dakota, but we have to believe that there are many other criminal defense attorneys there.  Why didn’t the client use another attorney and give up attorney 1?

"jury trial is scheduled Wednesday in Northwest District Court in Minot in a legal malpractice case involving a former Minot attorney.

Donald Peterson, who was disbarred in 2004, is being sued by Robert Taylor of Stanley, a former client whose complaint was a factor in the North Dakota Supreme Court disciplinary board’s action against Peterson. Judge Burt Riskedahl, Bismarck, will preside at the trial.

Taylor is asking unspecified damages from Peterson and Peterson’s former law firm of Kenner, Sturdevant & Cresap. "

Taylor’s complaint, filed nearly three years ago, alleges that Peterson failed to properly represent him and gave him improper and erroneous advice.

Taylor retained Peterson as his attorney in a divorce case in 2002. According to the complaint, Taylor followed his attorney’s advice regarding taping phone conversations, then received a suspended sentence for illegally recording when Peterson inadequately represented him and failed to notify him of a plea agreement offer.

Taylor also alleges that Peterson failed to file an appeal of the divorce judgment by the filing deadline and refused to return funds deposited with him to file the appeal. Papers that Peterson eventually filed included a forged signature for Taylor, the complaint stated.

Although the court reporting service got the cite wrong [we’ll get it later today], here is yet another law school  case concerning jurisdiction:  A New York Plaintiff hires a Pennsylvania attorney to litigate in Connecticut." Scheuer v. Schwartz

"CIVIL PROCEDURE. LONG ARM JURISDICTION. TRANSACTION WITHIN STATE. Plaintiff, the estate of a New Yorker who retained defendant, a Pennsylvania attorney, to represent him in a Connecticut probate proceeding, brought an action to recover alleged excess fees charged to the deceased. Granting of defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction reversed, and complaint reinstated. CPLR 302(a)(1) permits long-arm jurisdiction over a nondomiciliary where: (1) defendant transacted business within New York; and (2) cause of action arises out of the transaction. Here, as part of handling the Connecticut probate matter, defendant made 10 trips to New York during a nine month period, during which he met with the deceased and his adversaries in the probate proceeding, and reviewed documents, for which he charged 70 hours of legal time. Thus, defendant engaged in “purposeful activities” in New York, justifying long-arm jurisdiction"

Continuous representation, which arose in medical malpractice, and was imported to legal malpractice does apply to all professional malpractice cases, but in this recent federal case, which we reported earlier, it does not save plaintiff when a new contract is arrived at each tax year. Williamson v. Price Waterhouse.

Here the case is reported from a Fed Civ Pro prospective.

We have no idea why a coin collecting web site features this exposition on legal malpractice, but here it is:

"« Tips for Beginning Coin Collectors   When is a Settlement Not a Settlement?
By Gerry Oginski When its not recorded in open court, or when the injured victim dies before he receives the settlement check, and the terms of the settlement were never clearly laid out by either side. Usually a settlement is reached among the attorneys or in Court with the assistance of the Judge. Where there is a verbal agreement between the attorneys as to the terms of the settlement, the victims lawyer will usually confirm those details in a written letter to the defense attorney. If a settlement is reached during trial, or at a pre-trial conference, the preferred method of settling the case is to put the settlement on the record. This means that a court reporter is called to the courtroom or Judges chambers, and the terms of the settlement are recorded and agreed to by all parties and later transcribed by the court reporter. Why is this important you ask? Because a settlement is not a settlement until and unless these rules are followed. Many attorneys are

Like all the big issues, this law suit may later lead to a bar exam question. 

"U.S. District Judge Manuel Real approved a roughly $49 million settlement in the BAR/BRI class action Monday — but only after rejecting incentive payments to five class representatives, claiming they had a conflict of interest.

The judge also delivered lower attorney fees than previously suggested for the class action, which alleged that West Publishing and Kaplan Inc., both major players in the legal test prep market, cut a secret deal to give West’s BAR/BRI a virtual monopoly over bar review courses, and Kaplan less competition in LSAT preparation classes. The proposed settlement called for the class of about 300,000 current and former law students to collect about $125 each.

Lisa Gintz, one named plaintiff who said she worked about 480 hours on the case, was "befuddled" by the decision.

"If you’re saying all your class representatives had conflicts, how can you approve the settlement? Logically, I just don’t understand that," the Louisiana-based attorney said. "  [Our own conflict check:  in Law School we sold Bar/Bri as graduating 3L]

"Nesci said Monday that she’s been talking to an attorney about bringing a case of legal malpractice against McGuireWoods

College buys land, nearby municipal college gets municipality to condemn the land, buying it in eminent domain while original college puts up a building.  Outcome is that municipal college wins, gets land and buiding, deposits $ 1.8 million for the building, and  loser college sues its attorney.

"An empty $3 million classroom in Riverside County has led Azusa Pacific University to court for the past several years.

Besides fighting a community to obtain compensation for land APU lost in court, the university also sued its former attorneys for legal malpractice.

In 2000, the university acquired a 30-acre lot in Menifee to establish a remote learning center. The land is adjacent to Mount San Jacinto College, which then filed an eminent domain lawsuit to claim the land for its own use.

Despite legal filings, APU started a $3 million construction project for a learning center on the site.

After APU lost the case, it filed the 2005 malpractice suit against its attorney, Edward Szczepkowski of the law firm Brown, Winfield, and Canzoneri, charging he failed to tell them that they should have informed the court that there was a building on the site. "

Attorney represented infant in a medical malpractice case.  Case was valued at $ 20 Million.  Just prior to trial, defendants offered $ 1 Million.  Attorney rejected, tried and lost the case.  Later, he asked the client for $ 160,000 in disbursements.  She refused.

Case then went on to a legal malpractice in which it was agreed that attorney had no paper proof that he communicated the offer.  Jury verdict for $1 million 

This blurb thanks toFish Law firm.

Personal injury awards are tax free.  Other awards are taxable.  Here is a question in the middle:  Is an award for mental anquish in a federal whistleblowing case taxable?  

" A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that awards for mental anguish are taxable, which reversed what it said just 11 months ago. The decision came in the case of Marrita Murphy, who was awarded damages for emotional distress and loss of reputation after she complained to authorities of environmental hazards at a New York Air National Guard base in Syracuse.

The taxpayer’s situation "seems akin to an involuntary conversion of assets; she was forced to surrender some part of her mental health and reputation in return for monetary damages," said the court. Ms. Murphy intends to seek further review in the courts, said one of her lawyers"