ExpertLaw Forum - Help With Your Legal Questions
Legal Malpractice What happens when a lawyer provides substandard representation?

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-29-2009, 11:44 AM
Med Med is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 1
Default Attorney Neglected Case and Caused a Default
Hello, this involves the state of PA. I'm looking for advice on how best to proceed. A friend and I have a small LLC, and we took on an attorney on contingency to help us pursue some escrow funds that were in dispute from a RE transaction. To make a long story short, we recently found out the attorney failed to appear in court on multiple occasions, or to respond to the courts demands (all available from an online court database). As a result, a judge ordered a default judgement to have the funds released to the opposition. In addition, the court ordered an additional default judgement against our LLC for legal costs and damages relating to a PA consumer fraud claim. Since we've found this information out, the attorney in question has refused to respond to multiple phone calls, text messages, or emails.
Our LLC does not have any assets at this point, so we feel we are at low risk from the "additional" judgement. However, there is a possibility that the opposition my decide to pursue that judgement against us individually and attempt to pierce the corporate veil.
Looking for some advice to get us started. These are the options I think we have:
1) Do nothing. Take the loss on the first judgement, and assume they won't attempt to collect on the second judgement. If there is a motion against us personally at some point, retain a lawyer at that time.

2) Try to reverse the court's decisions based on attorney incompetence - is this even possible?

3) Find a contingency malpractice attorney to go after the lawyer's insurance company for both the initial and second judgement.
Any thoughts?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-31-2009, 11:32 AM
Mr. Knowitall Mr. Knowitall is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: California
Posts: 32,475
Default Re: Attorney Neglected Case and Caused a Default
I suggest finding a lawyer to examine the court proceedings to see if there's any way to fix the first lawyer's errors, and then considering pursuing a legal malpractice case based upon the outcome.
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off





Forum Sponsor
Similar Threads
Thread Forum Last Post
Default Judgment in a Civil Case Civil Procedure 08-18-2009 06:19 AM
New Attorney Mid Case Legal Malpractice 06-04-2009 12:12 AM
How to Proceed with Default in a Divorce Case Divorce 03-24-2009 09:00 PM
Attorney Fails to File Answer, Causing Default Judgement Legal Malpractice 03-15-2009 11:06 PM
Being Sued For Default On Car Lease - Do I Need An Attorney Auto Loans and Repossession 03-19-2008 10:24 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:21 PM.

Information provided in the forum is not intended to substitute for professional advice, including but not limited to professional legal advice. If you submit a question or comment it is assumed that you are interested in soliciting, receiving or giving general information and not legal advice. Laws vary by state, and the laws described in this forum may be different in your state or may have been changed since the information was posted. The legal help offered in this forum comes from volunteers who may not have any formal legal training or knowledge, and all information should be confirmed with a qualified legal professional. All information is made available on an "as is" basis. You should accept legal advice only from a licensed legal professional with whom you have an attorney-client relationship. Use of this forum is subject to the ExpertLaw terms of use.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2004 - 2008 ExpertLaw.com, All Rights Reserved