Recent Blog Posts
When is an Injury “Foreseeable”?
FORESEEABILITY IS A FACTOR IN DETERMINING A DEFENDANT’S DUTY IN NEGLIGENCE CASES When evaluating whether or not a defendant owed a duty of care to an injured plainitff, courts will often evaluate the foreseeability of the harm or injury. Where the plaintiff suffers only economic harm, foreseeability generally plays a lesser role than it does in… Read More »
What is “Negligent Hiring”?
EMPLOYERS SHOULD HIRE AND TRAIN STAFF CAREFULLY Under California law, when an employer or business: 1. Hires an employee; 2. Under circumstances where the employer knew (or should have known) that the employee created a risk of danger to others; and 3. The employee does cause harm (of the type about which the employer knew… Read More »
What Kind of Legal “Duty” Supports a Negligence Case?
WITHOUT A LEGAL DUTY, THERE IS NO ACTIONABLE NEGLIGENCE. The existence of a legal duty is a fundamental element of a negligence case or claim. If the defendant did not owe a duty to the plaintiff, courts will not hold the defendant legally liable for the plaintiff’s injuries, even if the defendant was responsible for… Read More »
What is Negligence?
NEGLIGENCE INVOLVES A BREACH OF DUTY THAT RESULTS IN INJURY. When people (or, in proper circumstances, entities like corporations) fail to comply with their legal duties, and someone is injured as a result of that failure, negligence law provides the framework within which courts (and individuals) determine whether or not the wrongdoer will be held liable and… Read More »
Emotional Distress in Legal Malpractice Actions
DAMAGES FOR EMOTIONAL DISTRESS ARE NOT TYPICALLY RECOVERABLE IN LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTIONS. Generally speaking, plaintiffs in legal malpractice actions cannot recover damages for emotional distress resulting from the lawyer’s negligence (malpractice). However, damages for emotional distress may be available in legal malpractice actions where the client can prove: 1. The emotional distress was severe, and… Read More »
Why Are Lost Punitive Damages Not Awarded in Legal Malpractice Actions?
PLAINTIFFS IN MALPRACTICE ACTIONS CANNOT GENERALLY RECOVER “LOST PUNITIVE DAMAGES” FROM NEGLIGENT COUNSEL. A client who fails to recover punitive damages in a legal action–even as a result of attorney negligence–generally cannot claim the “lost” punitive damages as part of the compensatory damages claimed in a legal malpractice action. While plaintiffs may consider these lost punitive damages… Read More »
Recoverable Damages in Legal Malpractice Actions
WHAT DAMAGES CAN A CLIENT RECOVER AGAINST A NEGLIGENT LAWYER? Plaintiffs who successfully bring a legal malpractice action against a lawyer may recover damages sufficient to “make the client whole,” or — in the words of California Civil Code Section 3333: “The amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused [by the wrongful… Read More »
When Has a Lawyer’s Negligence Damaged a Client?
WITHOUT DAMAGES, A LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION CANNOT PREVAIL. Damages–meaning a legally recognizable harm or injury–is a mandatory element of a legal malpractice (professional negligence) action. This means that a plaintiff must be able to prove that the attorney’s breach of a legally recognized duty caused the plaintiff to suffer some harm or injury. Moreover,… Read More »
When Does a Lawyer’s Negligence Cause Clients Harm?
The elements of attorney malpractice (professional negligence) include a breach of duty that causes legally recognized damages to a client (or, in some cases, an eligible non-client). In order to prevail on a claim for legal malpractice, and recover damages from a negligent lawyer, the plaintiff must prove all elements of the malpractice claim … including “causation.”… Read More »
Expert Testimony in Legal Malpractice Cases
WHEN IS EXPERT TESTIMONY REQUIRED IN MALPRACTICE CASES? Generally, expert testimony is not required in legal malpractice cases if the lawyer’s act or omission was so clearly a breach of duty and contrary to accepted standards that a jury (or judge, as trier of fact) does not require expert testimony to find malpractice. Where the… Read More »
