Elements in a Legal Malpractice Case in Massachusetts скачать в хорошем качестве

Elements in a Legal Malpractice Case in Massachusetts

Elements of a legal malpractice case. Good afternoon, my name is Neil Burns and I've been asked to talk to you about the elements of a legal malpractice case here in Massachusetts. Along with my partner Roshan Jain, we represent victims of legal malpractice here, and I've been in this office, 6 Beacon Street, since 1987. We represent a lot of victims. We've had a lot of cases, but sometimes people just ask about the basics. So this is the basics. What are the basic elements for legal malpractice? Here it goes. Duty. Did someone have a duty to represent you, to take care of you legally? Did he or she have a fee agreement with you? Did they have a written fee agreement? Did they have an oral fee agreement? It could be any type of an agreement. It could be through texting, through emails. A signed fee agreement of course is best, but what we don't want to have is a vague answer to this question. In other words, this attorney represented your father, therefore he should have represented you. This attorney represented your mother, therefore she should have represented you. Did they represent you? Do they have a duty to do what they said they were going to do or what you said they should do? Second element is breach of duty. Did they breach their responsibility? They had a duty to file suit in a certain period of time. According to the standards of care here in Massachusetts, they breached their duty, they blew the statute of limitations, they didn't answer interrogatories, they didn't respond to requests for documents from the other side, and you lost your case, and you lost opportunities and rights. Did they breach their duty? Number three is, was the breach of duty, the proximate cause, the cause of your damages? So, this is important because lots of times attorneys screw up. They're supposed to call you back. They're supposed to file suit in time. They're supposed to do all sorts of things that you think they were supposed to do. But, what you say they didn't do, even if they were supposed to do it, didn't really cause your damages. Didn't really cause the problem that you now have, or that you had before you hired them. And then, the next element is damage. Were there damages? We use the example of a rear end car accident. Guy gets out, he's drunk, and says, I'm really sorry, it's all my fault. But, your car isn't damaged, you aren't injured. You don't have any damages. You have a case against him, but you're gonna win zero. So, were there damages? And then the final element, which is not a technical element, but it's collectability. It's a practical element. Could you collect? In the underlying case, was there insurance? Was there a thing that you would have won, a dollar amount you would have actually won? Not a piece of paper for a dollar amount, but something that you would have won, you would have been able to collect on. With respect to the illegal malpractice case, you also have to collect against the attorney. Does he or she have insurance? So those are the elements of a legal malpractice case. If you think you're a victim of legal malpractice, call Burns and Jain. It's a free initial consulta