If you think he screwed up, you can file a grievance with the local bar association, you can contact his malpractice insurance carrier and complain to them, or you sue him but you will have to prove you had damages. Waiting may not be considered damages.
The decision to sue must always be made after considering three things: have you been directly damaged by another s actions or failure to act, and; can the damage be determined and reduced to some monetary figure; and are the damages sufficient to warrant the time you (and the attorney you hire to litigate) will expend in pursuing compensation for your injury. So this is your analysis: 1. Has the attorney s actions caused you damages: the answer is, of course, yes. It is the attorney s obligation to know what he has to do to resolve your legal issues. If he makes a mistake, then he is directly responsible. Your closing has been delayed and you have probably had to spend additional money in rent (or similar expenses) where you are. You may have suffered some emotional distress, as well. 2. Can those damages be determined and reduced to a monetary number: Well, you can certainly determine how much extra you have paid in rent during the delay...but your damages based on emotional distress are much less certain. What do we use as a yardstick? For all practical purposes, those damages would be extremely difficult to ascertain. 3. Even if some damages could be determined, are they enough to justify bringing suit: Unless you lost the sale of your prior house, or had to stay in a hotel for a year, or some other easily determined LARGE damage numbers, it probably would not pay for you OR your new counsel to bring an action against this attorney. With all that being said, you should not spend another minute with an attorney you do not trust. It is the most important part of your relationship with him and he can not adequately represent you without it. You should insist on changing counsel, even at this late date. If the attorney attempts to exact some inappropriate fee or penalty for your decision, inform him that you intend to report any such unprofessional behaviour to the Disciplinary Committee of your state bar association. You have the right to professional and adequate legal representation...insist on it!
I agree with the other response re: damages. Also, was it the attorney who called to advise you of further delay for screwing up the guardianship? If so, you ve got a stand up lawyer amp; I would not be so hard on him/her. In any malpractice case, you first have to prove that but for the lawyer s negligence, you would have prevailed on the underlying case. So, there is actually a trial within a trial. Even if a lawyer commits malpractice, you have to demonstrate not only actual damages sustained amp; caused by the attorney s negligence but also, but for that negligence, you would have won the underlying action. For example, say the law in your jurisdiction states that a plaintiff has one year from the date of a car accident to sue for personal inuries/damages. You had a car accident on January 1, 2003 but your lawyer did not file the lawsuit until January 2, 2004, more than one year later. The case is dismissed because it was not filed within one year of the accident. So, you hire another lawyer amp; sue the old lawyer for malpractice. What could be easier than a blown statute, right? But, in order to prevail on malpractice lawsuit, you have to demonstrate that you would have won the car accident case--that a judgment would have been rendered in your favor. You ve got to bring in witnesses, experts, etc. So, before you even get to the malpractice phase of the trial, you have to litigate the auto accident case. At the conclusion of that phase of the malpractice case, if a court/jury determines that you caused or contributed to the accident , you did NOT demonstrate that you would have prevailed on the underlying case. Hence, your malpractice lawsuit would be tossed out before you got to the malpractice, the attorney s negligence, damages, etc. Since you are only talking about delays in closing...and since you can still close the deal, what s the malpractice (or damages)? Based upon the facts you presented, I think your case would be thrown out of court almost as soon as it s filed. What if the lawyer screwed up because of faulty info provided by you? Everyone gets mad at the lawyers...
to sue a lawyer you need another lawyer they dont like it don t pay him that ll frost his balls
You can...but it s hard to do it using another lawyer from the same town. Get a lawyer from another city if you decide to sue him. Professional courtesy you know...same reason sharks don t eat lawyers....
He sounds incompetent, hire another attorney. As far as suing I am not sure but a realtor or broker may know if you have a claim for damages.
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