When it comes to pursuing a lawsuit, the deadlines and due dates associated with your case are the law. If you fail to meet one, it could render an excellent lawsuit ineffective.
Indeed, it doesn’t matter if your doctor fell asleep during surgery or if you a drunk driver hit you while you were riding your bike in a law abiding fashion, if you miss a vital deadline, you could lose your case to pursue financial damages. In a lot of cases, if you miss a deadline, it will be the fault of the lawyer representing you.
Here’s what you’ll need to prove in court if you want to show that your lawyer was negligent for missing a vital deadline:
- Your lawyer owed you a fiduciary obligation to represent you in a competent and skillful fashion.
- Your lawyer breached this obligation through his or her careless or negligent actions, or simply by making a mistake.
- Your lawyer’s breaches in this regard resulted in harm or injury.
- The harm or injury resulted in financial losses.
In addition to the above four points, you’ll also need to prove that you could have won your lawsuit if your attorney had acted competently, and that this win would have resulted in collecting an award of damages in your favor. This final part of such a case could be the most difficult thing for you to try establish in a malpractice suit against your lawyer.
Did you receive negligent legal representation in Pasadena? A California legal malpractice attorney can help you pursue financial justice in court.
Source: FindLaw, “Legal Malpractice Lawsuit FAQ,” accessed Sep. 08, 2017
