California Legal Malpractice Attorneys
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Do you think you have a case for legal or lawyer malpractice? Contact our California Legal Malpractice Attorneys for a free consultation and to protect your rights. We've been representing legal malpractice clients for decades and have helped over 12,000 clients and have over $500 Million in personal injury verdicts and settlements.
What is Legal Malpractice?
Legal or attorney malpractice is described as a lawyer's failure to render professional services with the skill, prudence, and diligence that an ordinary and reasonable lawyer would use under similar circumstances.
Every time there is a "bad" or "unfortunate" case outcome it is not necessarily legal malpractice. If an attorney gave what turned out to be "bad" or "the wrong" advice, you cannot automatically accuse the prosecutor of legal malpractice. No professional can ensure or promise a positive outcome for his client. It is important to remember that what creates liability is the lawyer's failure to act in the manner the ordinary or reasonable lawyer would act in handling that matter for his client.
How to Successfully Win Your Legal or Professional Malpractice Case
To successfully win a California legal malpractice case, a plaintiff must prove that the lawyer's negligence was the legal cause of some actual damage to the plaintiff. Damages may not be based upon sheer speculation or surmise, and the mere possibility or even probability that damage will result from wrongful conduct does not render it actionable.
It is not sufficient to allege that the underlying case should have settled for more or resulted in a higher verdict at trial. It is not sufficient to allege that "if" the plaintiff had been given the right advice, he might have spent less money in a transaction, or might have received more in the transaction.
For legal malpractice in litigation cases, the need to prove actual damages requires the plaintiff to prove what he would have recovered in the "underlying" action, and that he was denied that recovery by the actions of the lawyer. The jury instruction which is read in California legal malpractice cases tells the jury that California law requires a plaintiff who establishes malpractice on the part of his or her attorney in prosecuting a lawsuit must also prove that careful management of it would have resulted in a favorable judgment and collection thereof.
Because of this, the "new" attorney must litigate the "case within the case": that is, he must not only prove that the first attorney was negligent, but also that there would have been a recovery in the lawsuit the attorney was hired to prosecute. If there was difficult or no liability in the underlying case, there is little chance of a recovery in a legal malpractice case. If the defendant had no insurance, or had no assets from which a judgment could be satisfied, there is no actual damage that can be recovered in the legal malpractice case.
Contact our Legal Malpractice Lawyers
Bisnar Chase is driven by results and client satisfaction. Passion for our clients has always been our primary focus. We love what we do and love to recover compensation four our clients loss and injury. We have won 9 out of every ten cases that go to trial. Some law firms take easy cases and those should never be lost, but if you are looking for malpractice attorneys made of grit, then Bisnar Chase may be your legal team. Call 1-800-561-4887.