Oct 08, 2013 · Posted on Oct 9, 2013. Although you can sue, it is important to be aware that many agencies have some form of immunity under statute or the case law. The applicable state law would need to be examined to see whether immunity exists and, if so, whether there are any exceptions to immunity. I suggest meeting with an attorney in your state ...
Apr 27, 2018 · Sue them for causing America pain and anguish. Sue them for failing to recognize that this president has finally led the country out of the malaise it had been in for the past 16 years under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Sue them for putting criminals ahead of law enforcement. Sue them for putting illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens.
Answer (1 of 11): No. In order to sue, a plaintiff would require standing to do so. SCOTUS has long curtailed the concept of taxpayer standing, so a plaintiff would have to have a real and demonstrable injury. But even if one got beyond the problem of standing, they would face the Doctrine of Jus...
Historically, under the doctrine of "sovereign immunity," you were not permitted to sue the king. Sovereign immunity has carried over to modern tim...
In general, the FTCA is intended to provide monetary compensation for injury, property loss, or death "caused by the negligent or wrongful act or o...
In a normal lawsuit claiming negligence, you proceed more or less straight to court. But if you wish to sue under the FTCA, you must first file a c...
The text of the First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law”, but how did that come to apply to any action by any government body, not just laws of Congress?
It applies to all Federal agencies because their actions are authorized, enforced, or constrained by Federal law, and Congress makes Federal law. Executive or Judicial action neither authorized by law nor part of that branch’s inherent power would violate the Fifth Amendment which is not limited to Congress.
If a citizen is reasonably certain that a government official is not performing their required duties, the citizen may petition the courts for a “writ of mandamus” which will compel the official to perform the duties. see Marbury v. Madison (1803) . 863 views.
If a citizen is reasonably certain that a government official is not performing their required duties, the citizen may petition the courts for a “writ of mandamus” which will compel the official to perform the duties. see Marbury v. Madison (1803) .
No. In order to sue, a plaintiff would require standing to do so. SCOTUS has long curtailed the concept of taxpayer standing, so a plaintiff would have to have a real and demonstrable injury. But even if one got beyond the problem of standing, they would face the Doctrine of Justiciability and its closely related sibling the Political Questions Doctrine. These relate to whether the court has the jurisdiction to hear the case and whether it is the appropriate venue. Political questions are deemed to be non justiciable. Particularly in cases that involve Congress refusing to exercise a power gra
But if you wish to sue under the FTCA, you must first file a claim with the federal agency responsible for the alleged misconduct. For example, if your claim is based on an accident at the post office, you would file your claim with the U.S. Postal Service. During this phase of the process, while your claim is being reviewed by the federal agency, it is referred to as an "administrative claim."
Slip and fall in a post office? Injured in a traffic accident involving an FBI agent? Medical malpractice by a Veterans Administration doctor? These are only a few examples of the potential negligence claims against the federal government. If you have a claim against the feds, often your only option is to sue the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).
Note on State Government Liability for Injury: State governments are entitled to the same sovereign immunity that is enjoyed by the federal government, but every state has also passed its own set of laws (o ften referred to as a "Tort Claims Act") in which the state has conditionally waived that immunity. And in certain situations where the negligent action (or inaction) of a government employee or agency has resulted in personal injury or property damage, citizens may be able to make a claim for damages. To learn about the rules in your state when it comes to filing an injury claim against the government, check out our Injury Claims Against Your State articles collection.
You then have six months to file a lawsuit. If the federal agency rejects your claim or refuses to pay all the money damages you demanded, you have six months from the date on which the decision is mailed to you to file a lawsuit.
Although not strictly necessary, the easiest way to prepare your administrative claim is to use the federal government's standard claim form, known as a Standard Form 95 or SF 95, which has boxes for all the information you will need to provide. You can get a copy of the form from the Department of Justice's website (at www.usdoj.gov, type "standard form 95" into the search box) or request a copy from the federal agency to which you will be submitting your claim.
Unfortunately, suing the federal government under the FTCA is trickier than suing a private citizen -- you will have to jump through a number of hoops, and the lawsuits are subject to a lengthy and sometimes confusing list of limitations.
If you believe you may have a claim for negligence (careless conduct, or other wrongful or "tortious" conduct) against a federal agency or employee, you must first determine whether you can sue the federal government under the FTCA. Unless your claim is allowed by the FTCA, there is a good chance it will be barred by sovereign immunity.
To win when you sue an attorney for malpractice, you need to show that: The attorney was supposed to do something. He or she didn't do it (or did it wrong) This resulted in a financial loss to you (losing the case or losing money)
If the attorney violated proper ethics, you can file a grievance with the ethics committee of the state bar association, which ensures all attorneys are in good standing to renew their licenses. The attorney could be disbarred or directed to pay you compensation.
Types of Attorney Malpractice 1 Negligence. To sue lawyer for negligence, you need to be able to prove the attorney didn't use the proper care in your case and missed a deadline, filed the wrong papers, didn't comply with court orders, or made other errors that were not intentional but were sloppy. Negligence happens when the attorney makes mistakes that other attorneys normally would not. 2 Breach of duty. This kind of malpractice happens when the lawyer violates his or her responsibilities to you by settling the case without your approval, not preparing the case for trial, lying to you, abandoning your case, misusing funds you provided for court costs, or misusing funds owed to you (such as a settlement amount). The attorney has not done what other attorneys would do in this type of case. 3 Breach of contract. This occurs when an attorney fails to do something he or she agreed to in your contract, such as filing your deed or patent. If the lawyer promised to do something he or she was contractually obligated to do and didn't do it, you have grounds for breach of contract.
Breach of duty. This kind of malpractice happens when the lawyer violates his or her responsibilities to you by settling the case without your approval, not preparing the case for trial, lying to you, abandoning your case, misusing funds you provided for court costs, or misusing funds owed to you (such as a settlement amount). The attorney has not done what other attorneys would do in this type of case.
When you hire an attorney, you do so with trust and confidence. Most attorneys are upstanding and do a good job for their clients. Unfortunately, there are also some bad eggs out there. If your attorney has done something wrong, you may want to consider suing a lawyer for malpractice.
Breach of contract. This occurs when an attorney fails to do something he or she agreed to in your contract, such as filing your deed or patent. If the lawyer promised to do something he or she was contractually obligated to do and didn't do it, you have grounds for breach of contract.
The attorney could be disbarred or directed to pay you compensation. If you are disputing a fee with your lawyer, the state also likely has a fee dispute committee that can help you obtain an out-of-court resolution. You can hire another attorney to complete or fix your case and obtain the outcome you need.
A common defense raised by attorneys sued for malpractice is that the client waited too long to sue. And because this area of the law can be surprisingly complicated and confusing, there's often plenty of room for argument. Legal malpractice cases are expensive to pursue, so do some investigating before you dive in.
If your lawyer does not respond, or subsequent meetings or conversations are not fruitful, consider suggesting mediation to work out your communication problems if you still want this lawyer to represent you. A bad deskside manner doesn't mean that the lawyer isn't an excellent lawyer, and it can be difficult to find a new one in the middle of a case.
Every state has an agency responsible for licensing and disciplining lawyers. In most states, it's the bar association; in others, the state supreme court. The agency is most likely to take action if your lawyer has failed to pay you money that you won in a settlement or lawsuit, made some egregious error such as failing to show up in court, didn't do legal work you paid for, committed a crime, or has a drug or alcohol abuse problem.
If you lost money because of the way your lawyer handled your case, consider suing for malpractice. Know, however, that it is not an easy task. You must prove two things:
If the lawyer is unresponsive and the matter involves a lawsuit, go to the courthouse and look at your case file, which contains all the papers that have actually been filed with the court. If you've hired a new lawyer, ask her for help in getting your file. Also, ask your state bar association for assistance.
If you can't find out what has (and has not) been done, you need to get hold of your file. You can read it in your lawyer's office or ask your lawyer to send you copies of everything -- all correspondence and everything filed with the court or recorded with a government agency.
A lawyer who doesn't return phone calls or communicate with you for an extended period of time may be guilty of abandoning you -- a violation of attorneys' ethical obligations. But that's for a bar association to determine (if you register a complaint), and it won't do you much good in the short term.
One of the best things that you can do if you feel that your attorney is not doing a good job is to get another law firm to look at your situation. These second opinions do not have to cost very much as it will probably only last an hour or two.
If, after many attempts to communicate with your attorney are met with silence, write your lawyer a firm letter asking why they are not responding to you. You should not threaten legal malpractice claims in your letter.
If you think that your attorney has not been working diligently on your case, you can always request your case file from your attorney. You can either go to the attorney's office and read the file there or request that the attorney make copies of everything and send them to you.
If you receive a bill that looks like the one above, you should demand an itemized accounting of all the time that your attorney spent on your case. Where exactly did those 50 hours go? For example, if your attorney claims that he wrote a letter to opposing counsel for 4 hours, and the letter turned out to be 2 paragraphs long, you may want to seriously question your attorney's time management.
Consider Mediation . One common method that many people are turning to instead of legal malpractice claims is mediation. Mediation is something both you and your lawyer may benefit from, and could even lead to a better attorney-client relationship.
No matter what name the agency in your state goes by, they will have a process you can use to file a complaint against your attorney for lying or being incompetent. Examples of these types of behavior include:
It can be discouraging and frustrating when you feel that your attorney is not doing their best job on your case . This article lays out some of the most common problems that clients have with legal professionals and suggests some ways of handling legal malpractice claims.