A 77-year-old Platte County woman who sued her divorce lawyer alleging poor and improper representation has settled the Clinton County lawsuit for $181,000, the value of the defendant’s remaining policy limits.

Tagged with: Legal malpractice vs

Plaintiff appealed the adverse summary judgment granted in her action filed on behalf of decedent seeking equitable garnishment against a claims-based, professional-liability insurance policy issued by defendant. The trial court ruled that the policy did not afford coverage to plaintiff ...

Tagged with: Equitable Garnishment against Insurance Legal malpractice

Where plaintiff brought claims including breach of fiduciary duty, collusion and fraud against an attorney and a law firm in a dispute arising from commercial transactions, summary judgment for the defendants was proper because the district court correctly determined that ...

Tagged with: Expert Affidavit Fiduciary duty Legal malpractice

Where a man, whose convictions were voided after 17 years, sued his trial and appellate public defenders for negligently failing to assert a jurisdictional challenge, and the public defenders challenged the $600,000 jury verdict entered in his favor, the public ...

Tagged with: jurisdiction Legal malpractice Public Defender Immunity

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Jan. 29 that a legal-malpractice suit against the St. Louis law firm HeplerBroom must be moved to a different county. But the court left unresolved a larger question about the proper venue for such suits. ...

Tagged with: Legal malpractice Missouri Supreme Court

Where a trial court in a legal-malpractice case granted a motion for summary judgment for the defendants on two fraud counts but denied the motion as to the legal-malpractice claim, the legal-malpractice claim was based on the same factual occurrences ...

Tagged with: jurisdiction Legal malpractice Negligence

Missouri’s venue laws hinge on where the plaintiff was “first injured.” That’s usually clear enough in a car crash or a botched surgery, but a pending legal malpractice suit against a prominent St. Louis law firm is proving harder to pin down.

Tagged with: Legal malpractice Missouri Surpeme Court

Even experienced and well-meaning attorneys can suddenly find themselves in representations that present conflicts of interests. Vigilance and a game plan are key to preventing these conflicts from becoming a bar disciplinary action or a malpractice claim. In a recent ...

Tagged with: commentary Legal malpractice

One day after a Jackson County jury awarded a Kansas engraving company $11.1 million in compensatory damages against one of Missouri’s largest law firms for its legal-malpractice claim, the parties notified the court they’d reached a confidential settlement.

Tagged with: Legal malpractice Polsinelli

A Jackson County jury on Monday afternoon awarded an $11. 1 million verdict against one of Missouri’s largest law firms in a case involving allegations that it was negligent in its handling of a trade-secrets misappropriation case.

Tagged with: Legal malpractice Polsinelli

This story was updated to clarify that the attorney defendants named in the suit against Polsinelli were dismissed prior to trial.  Donald C. Stevens II was a medical-malpractice and insurance-defense attorney when he joined a Polsinelli colleague in 2009 in ...

Tagged with: Legal malpractice Polsinelli