Legal malpractice is a type of negligence in which a lawyer does harm to his or her client. Typically, this concerns lawyers acting in their own interests, lawyers breaching their contract with the client, and, one of the most common cases of legal malpractice, is when lawyers fail to act on time for clients.
Perhaps the most common kinds of complaints against lawyers involve delay or neglect. This doesn't mean that occasionally you've had to wait for a phone call to be returned. It means there has been a pattern of the lawyer's failing to respond or to take action over a period of months.
Attorney misconduct may include: conflict of interest, overbilling, refusing to represent a client for political or professional motives, false or misleading statements, knowingly accepting worthless lawsuits, hiding evidence, abandoning a client, failing to disclose all relevant facts, arguing a position while ...
Formal complaint against [name of lawyer or law firm] describe what the lawyer had been hired to do for you [for example dealing with the sale or purchase of a house] • say when this was [give the date or dates when the problem occurred]. My complaint is that [list what you think went wrong or wasn't done properly.
Some basic rights that you are entitled to include proper and effective communication/correspondence between a client and his or her attorney, the competency of the attorney to know the core knowledge and expertise of a client’s legal issue, the work was completed ethically and the agreement of fees is followed. As a summary, you can and should expect your lawyer to do the following: 1 Give you guidance regarding your legal circumstance 2 Keep you up to date about your case 3 Tell you what he or she thinks will transpire in your case 4 Allow you to make vital judgments concerning your case 5 Give you an assessment about what your case ought to cost 6 Help you in any cost-benefit evaluation that you may need 7 Keep in communication with you 8 Inform you of any changes, delays, or setbacks 9 Give you the information you need to make educated decisions, and 10 Prepare you for your case, including disposition and trial preparation.
It is very hard to win a malpractice case because of the amount of evidence you need to prove that the lawyer failed to use the ordinary skill and care that would be used by other lawyers in handling a similar problem or case under similar conditions.
If you believe the bill that you’ve received is outside of the context of your agreement, don’t pay it. Ask your lawyer about why the bill is the amount it is and—if you disagree, ask for a reduction. If the lawyer refuses to do so, consider filing for a nonbinding fee arbitration with a state or local bar association. Arbitration allows an outside party to become the neutral decision-maker when regarding bills and finances. It can be binding or nonbinding which allows you to reject the arbitrator’s assessment. Find out more from our local association.
While it may be upsetting to not get the compensation you thought you deserved based on your attorney’s comments, you cannot file a malpractice claim against this fallacy. You can, however, get your file from the lawyer and get a second opinion on your case.
Yes, you can. However, you would have to prove that your lawyer did so without your authorization because the settlement was far less than what you were truly owed and didn’t effectively represent your case or that the lack of communication was systematic.
These basic pieces of malpractice are all due to problems associated with troubled attorney-client relationships. They are normally set off by a lack of communication, dishonestly and incompetence, inadequate legal work, arbitration, and billings.
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 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.
If that doesn't work, as a last resort you may need to sue your lawyer in small claims court, asking the court for money to compensate you for what you've spent on redoing work in the file or trying to get the file.
If you're not satisfied with your lawyer's strategy decisions or with the arguments the lawyer has been making on your behalf, you may even want to go to the law library and do some reading to educate yourself about your legal 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:
But all states except Maine, New Mexico, and Tennessee do have funds from which they may reimburse clients whose attorneys stole from them.
If you want to sue for legal malpractice, do it as quickly as possible. 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.
What to do when the executor isn’t fulfilling their duties. The job of the executor of a will is to handle the estate of the deceased and carry out his or her wishes. This includes paying off debts and taxes, and distributing the assets to the beneficiaries as stated in the will. The executor has a responsibility to do so in a timely manner, ...
You may be wondering how long it takes between the reading of the will and the receipt of your inheritance. Depending on how complex the estate is , the process can take anywhere from a few months to several years. The executor can only distribute the assets after the property is evaluated, and debts and taxes are paid. He or she can be held personally liable if inheritances are paid first and there’s not enough left to cover the debts and taxes.
Is not suitable (e.g., the executor has a conflict of interest) Is not competent (e.g., the executor fails to carry out the wishes of the deceased or fails to do anything at all) Mismanages the estate (e.g., steals from the estate or wastes the assets. Keep in mind that is standard for executor fees to be paid to the executor) In general, ...
With various safeguards built in to the procedure for making a claim, those fears have not been realised. To summarise: 1 the shareholder has to have a prima facie case - frivolous or time-wasting claims will go nowhere; 2 the success of the company remains paramount - litigation will only go ahead if it's genuinely in the company's best interests; 3 the shareholder must be acting in good faith in the interests of the company as a whole; 4 the views of other shareholders will be taken into account, and an ordinary resolution in favour of the directors will trump all opposition; 5 a shareholder without a good case will be at risk on costs, its own and the company's.
A director owes their duties direct to the company, and only the company can complain of any breach. Shareholders have no right to claim against a director for any loss they believe they may have suffered as a result of breach of duty. However much their shares have dropped in price, they cannot recover that loss of value from the directors they hold responsible.
A contract or other arrangement entered into by the director in breach of a duty will be void, though it may be open to the company to ratify the agreement if it wishes to do so. The company may also seek: an injunction to stop the director from carrying out or continuing with the breach;
Derivative claims by shareholders against directors are not new , but setting the rules out in legislation for the first time (in the Companies Act 2006) raised their profile. This led to fears that:
Once a company becomes insolvent, a liquidator or administrator will be under a duty to consider a claim against a director where a breach of duty is discovered. A claim will be treated as an asset of the company: it will be pursued and realised for the benefit of creditors.
Whatever the circumstances, regardless of who is in the right and whether or not there has been a breach of duty, shareholders always have the right to remove a director by ordinary resolution. That right is enshrined in statute and cannot be taken away by a company’s articles.
the shareholder has to have a prima facie case - frivolous or time-wasting claims will go nowhere; the success of the company remains paramount - litigation will only go ahead if it's genuinely in the company's best interests; the shareholder must be acting in good faith in the interests of the company as a whole;
If you wish to pursue a claim against a contractor for not performing according to the terms of a construction contract, you’ll have to show that the contractor either breached the terms of your construction contract or failed to fulfill some other legal duty or obligation to you.
The vast majority of arbitration clauses are enforced by the courts, so you’ll need to make your case before an arbitrator about why the contractor should be held accountable for not performing according to a contract’s terms. An Orange County real estate litigation lawyer can represent you during arbitration.
Suing a contractor is not always possible for non-performance because sometimes construction contracts will contain arbitration clauses. If your construction contract does contain an arbitration clause, you will need to resolve your dispute in arbitration unless there is some very specific reason why the arbitration clause should not be enforceable.
If a contractor did not complete a project according to the specifications that you agreed to in the contract, this is a potential case of non-performance and you would have to show where the contractor fell short in his obligations. If the contractor used substandard materials, delayed in completing the contract after the agreed-upon finish date, ...
If you do not have an arbitration clause and want to pursue a legal remedy for non-performance, an attorney can assist you in negotiating an out-of-court settlement or in litigating your case and convincing a judge or jury to find for you. When you successfully prove a contractor failed to perform as promised, you could obtain monetary damages ...
Brown & Charbonneau, LLP has extensive experience providing representation to clients when residential or commercial construction projects go badly. If you believe that your contractor has failed to perform as promised and that you have been harmed as a result of the contractor’s non-performance, our legal team is here to help you. Give us a call at 866-237-8129 or contact us online as soon as possible when you believe a problem has occurred with your construction project so you can find out how an Orange County real estate litigation lawyer can help you.
Some construction contracts include a binding arbitration clause, where parties agree to resolve disputes by arbitration rather than in court. Arbitration is a relatively low-cost process in which each side presents its case to an independent authority, who makes a final decision.
We all know that remodeling can be a hassle. But occasionally a construction project turns into a total disaster and you end up at odds with your contractor -- even though you thoroughly vetted the contractor and the remodeling contract before signing. Shoddy workmanship, unexplained delays, and amenities that never get installed can lead ...
Arbitration is a relatively low-cost process in which each side presents its case to an independent authority, who makes a final decision. Even if your contract has no such provision, you can request a similar hearing.
Your contractor could challenge the firing in court as a bre ach of contract: You must show that he breached the contractor agreement first. Document each time the contractor doesn’t live up to the specifics of the contract, such as substituting inferior materials or failing to stick to the schedule.
In small claims courts, you represent yourself and pay just a few dollars to bring a case. The rules depend on your local jurisdiction, but typically a judge hears from both parties, asks questions, and then resolves the issues.
Unlike Better Business Bureau hearings, the contractor can’t opt out of a lawsuit.