Personal Injury and Legal Malpractice

Personal injury law firms run the gamut in size and stature. Sometimes an apparent fit between the firm and its client isn’t a fit at all. The plaintiff’s attorneys can be slow on the switch, or worse—-not sensing a winning case or a large enough settlement — drop the ball altogether. In the end, the personal injury law firm might be out some personnel hours, but the plaintiff is the big loser because of an opportunity potentially lost to rightfully claim an award as a result of someone’s negligence, unaddressed because of poor legal work. This could be construed as legal malpractice.

In a recent case at the Law Offices of Joel Bacher, the legal malpractice he pursued was that of the plaintiff’s attorney in a case dismissed that involved personal injury as a result of a slip and fall. The original legal team’s failure was that they did not retain an engineering expert to examine and issue a report regarding the defect that existed and caused the accident. The original firm that was used by the plaintiff prepared so poorly that a judge at a hearing was left with no choice but to dismiss the case on motion. Joel Bacher was able to highlight this oversight by hiring an expert to focus the fact that lighting was inadequate and the stairs not built to code, which created a dangerous condition that caused his trip and fall.

The legal malpractice case was settled when the defense agreed to pay for an eye operation that the plaintiff need to restore his eye sight and compensate him for his injury in the sum of $106,000.

If you feel you were misrepresented or under-represented or served poorly enough to hint at legal malpractice, or are considering filing a personal injury lawsuit and need legal advice, contact The Offices of Joel Bacher for a free consult.