When her statute of limitations ran out (missed deadlines) she turned her attention to her attorneys that didn’t file as promised. A six and a half year legal malpractice saga began, and continues …
Ogden woman’s malpractice lawsuit against law firm to continue
o the closure she seeks after a six and one-half year-long legal battle with her former attorneys.
Jodi Kranendonk of Ogden sued Utah law firm Gregory & Swapp PPLC, now known as Craig Swapp and Associates, for legal malpractice. The law firm is known for its “One call, That’s all,” slogan heard in television and radio commercials.
A Utah appeals court reversed a recent decision to dismiss Kranendonk’s lawsuit, continuing the back-and-forth legal saga, according to a press release from her current legal council Peck, Hadfield, Baxter & Moore.
Kranendonk’s troubles began in 2006 when she was involved in an accident with two semi-trucks in Oregon. She turned to Gregory & Swapp, which operated a branch in Oregon, to sue the truckers for damages. The law firm reportedly told her she deserved $600,000 in damages from the truckers, according to the release.
Years passed and Kranendonk soon learned that her lawsuit was dismissed because her attorneys did not deliver the legal complaints to the truckers in time. After several more attempts to go through with the lawsuit, the statute of limitations ran out and suing the truckers for the accident became all but impossible.
Frustrated, she fired Gregory & Swapp and hired her current Logan-based law firm to sue her former attorneys for legal malpractice.
The malpractice lawsuit went to trial in the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake City, but was thrown out due to a lack of evidence. Gregory & Swapp claimed that Kranendonk wasn’t owed any damages from them, because she didn’t even know if the original lawsuit would have been successful.
In a decision released on Feb. 13, an appeals judge reversed the decision, allowing the lawsuit to go forward. The ruling judge disagreed with the district court’s conclusion that Kranendonk did not have sufficient evidence to prove the truckers were liable for the accident.
A date for the reset jury trial has not yet been scheduled.
Kranendonk or her lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment. A representative for Craig Swapp and Associates could also not be reached for comment.
