When an attorney’s negligence causes you to lose a court case you would have otherwise won, you may be able to obtain compensation through a legal malpractice suit.
What Constitutes Legal Malpractice?
There are four basic elements that make up a legal malpractice case:
- Attorney-client relationship
- Negligence
- Causation
- Financial Loss
Generally, each of the four elements need to be present in order for a legal malpractice case to go forward. A signed contract is usually all you need to prove an attorney-client relationship, but the other three elements can be much more difficult to prove.
An example of negligence would be if your lawyer failed to meet filing deadlines for your case, or if they did not file a case within the statute of limitations (provided they had ample time to do so). Meeting the causation requirement is often the hardest part of pressing a malpractice case, since it means proving definitively that your former attorney caused you to lose your case because of their negligence. Many times, simply being negligent is not enough for a successful legal malpractice case.
Showing that you suffered a financial loss because of malpractice can be straightforward in most cases, especially when you were the one seeking a judgment against someone else.
Suing a Lawyer
While your previous lawyer may not have fought hard for you, they will definitely fight hard for themselves. This is why it is very important to have a legal malpractice attorney in Utah who knows exactly what they are doing in order for you to win your case.
The bar is usually higher for proving a legal malpractice case as opposed to other types of cases and therefore require the skills of an experienced legal malpractice attorney in Utah.