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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    10

    Default Lawyer Suspended by Bar

    My question involves malpractice by a lawyer in the state of: Georgia

    My wife was in car accident almost 2 years while pregant for our first child. It was the fault of the other. We decided to sue her so we went with a lawyer that her sister was working for at the time. We waited and waited for him to wrap up the case. Every time we called him he would say he was getting all the paperwork together and not to worry about anything. He finally told us that everything was together and he was waiting on a response for the amount he was sueing for. Once again we waited (keep in mind this dragged on for 2 years). A couple of weeks ago wife got a call from him saying he was doing personal injury cases anymore and he going to get us another lawyer or we could use our own. He said that he was doing social security cases because it was easy money. Two days ago we got a letter from the defendants lawyer saying they filed for a dismiss of the case and the court date was on Sept. 9th. My wife went to our new lawyer and gave him the file from the other lawyer. The new lawyer proceeded to tell my wife that the old lawyer never served the defendant with the papers. Apparently he tried to serve them at her parents house but she didn't reside there so the paper were never served. I guess he was to lazy to find her. Keep in mind we are just finding out about this 2 years later. The new lawyer said that the "staute of limitations" had run out to serve the papers. On top of that the reason he didn't want to do the case was he has been suspended by the bar for malpractice.

    My question is should my wife go to court and try to explain to the judge what has happened and try to get a continous in the case?

    Can we sue him for malpractice or is not worth it?

  2. #2

    Default Re: Lawyer Suspended by Bar

    The statute of limitations for personal injury cases in Georgia is two years. You should still have some time left.

    Perhaps what the second lawyer meant was that the time for serving the papers on the defendant had lapsed. If he filed suit almost two years ago and never served the defendant then sure, that's true - but you should be able to simply file the complaint again.

    Another issue - they filed a motion to dismiss the case. It is possible that by doing this they waived service. Or, perhaps there is some misunderstanding and your first lawyer actually did serve the defendant.

    Maybe something else happened that would cause the statute of limitations to have tolled for some period of time - that means that the clock stops and you aren't using up time.

    I think I'd get a second (third?) opinion.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Lawyer Suspended by Bar

    Malpractice by an attorney is sometimes cause for equitable tolling of the SOL. I agree, you need to talk to another attorney. If you paid the first attorney, contact the bar association.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Lawyer Suspended by Bar

    In which states? In the jurisdictions I'm not aware of any authority that excuse a plaintiff's missing the statute of limitations by, in essence, punishing the defendant for the plaintiff's poor choice of lawyer.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    643

    Default Re: Lawyer Suspended by Bar

    And with respect to the malpractice claim, if it turns out that the statute of limitations has run and you have lost your claim because of the lawyer's negligence, you could sue the attorney for malpractice. You may be in luck if he had malpractice insurance but if not whether you are going to collect on a judgment depends on what assets are owned by he or the legal entity of which he was a part.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    10

    Default Re: Lawyer Suspended by Bar

    Thanks for the replies.

    What about my wife telling the judge what happened? Is it true that a lawyer being suspended by the bar is not a good enough reason why the papers weren't served? What are the chances that the judge says she can have a continous on the case?

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