New Legal Malpractice Case

To do the best job possible as a mediator, arbitrator and referee, I keep up with and summarize the new published California civil cases. In this blog I discuss a new civil case that was published last month. 

Legal Malpractice

I've been thinking for years that the anti-SLAPP statute (Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16) could create potential legal malpractice liability for California lawyers. Now it has. Last month, the Second District Court of Appeal published a new case addressing whether attorneys and law firms can be liable for not discussing with clients the potential risks and damages if a defendant files a successful anti-SLAPP motion to strike. In the video above I briefly discuss this new case. My summary of the case is below.

New Legal Malpractice Decision 

Mireskandari v. Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 1055417: The Court of Appeal reversed in part, and affirmed in part, the trial court's order granting defendants' motion for summary judgment to plaintiff's complaint against his former lawyers for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. The complaint alleged, among other things, that defendants failed to advise plaintiff of California's anti-SLAPP statute before filing a complaint on plaintiff's behalf against a newspaper publisher in California federal court. Plaintiff alleged the lawsuit predictably drew a successful anti-SLAPP motion to strike, which caused him to incur substantial attorney fees litigating and losing the motion and deprived him of discovery he intended to use in a disciplinary proceeding pending against him in the United Kingdom, ultimately resulting in the loss of his law license, substantial fines and fees, and bankruptcy. The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court that plaintiff's damages claim based on the adverse outcome of the U.K. disciplinary proceeding was too speculative to create a question of fact for a jury, but those were not plaintiff's only damages. The trial court erred in concluding that plaintiff could not establish causation under the case-within-a-case method because he could not prove he would have prevailed in his lawsuit against the publisher but for defendants' negligence. The Court of Appeal concluded that an attorney owes a duty of care to advise a client of foreseeable risks of litigation before filing a lawsuit on the client’s behalf, and therefore plaintiff alleged a viable claim that, but for defendants' negligent failure to advise him of the risks associated with a potential anti-SLAPP motion, he would not have filed his lawsuit in California and would not have incurred damages from litigating and losing an anti-SLAPP motion. (C.A. 2nd, April 8, 2022.)

Mediation, Arbitration and Referee Services

I help attorneys and their clients by serving as a mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc. I handle cases in the areas of business, commercial, employment, insurance bad faith, insurance coverage, land use, landlord-tenant (commercial and residential), legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, real property and wrongful death. I also keep up with the new civil case law published in California. I offer Zoom services throughout California and also in-person services. I've been a California civil trial lawyer since 1980 and a member of ABOTA since 1995. I've represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of civil cases including the areas listed above. If you'd like to work with me, please contact my case manager at ADR services, Haward Cho, [email protected], (619) 233-1323.  

California Case Summaries™

California courts are constantly publishing new civil case decisions. Last year in 2021, the California Supreme Court published 22 new civil or family law decisions and the Court of Appeal published 483 new civil or family law decisions, for a total of 505 new civil or family law cases!

While you don't need to read new case decisions outside of your civil practice area, it's clear that there are lots of new case decisions each year that you need to know about to keep current in your practice areas.  

I keep up with the new case law, and I help California lawyers easily keep up with the new case law by publishing California Case Summaries™ with short summaries (one paragraph), organized by legal topic, of the new published civil or family law decisions. I publish monthly, quarterly, and annual publications, giving you several options for mastering the new case law. 

Here are the subscription options:

California Case Summaries Monthly™:  short summaries (one paragraph), organized by legal topic, of every new civil and family law case published each month by California courts for only $50 per attorney per month. To subscribe, click here.

California Case Summaries Quarterly™: short, organized summaries of every new civil and family law case published each quarter, with the official case citations, for only $200 per attorney per quarter. To subscribe, click here.

California Case Summaries Annual 2021™:  short, organized summaries of every new civil and family law case published in 2021 for only $900 per attorney per year. To subscribe, click here.

Annual Practice Area Case Summaries 2021. In January 2022 we published our Annual Practice Area case summaries for the practice area of Employment, Family Law, Real Property and  
Torts. They cost only $350 per year per attorney. To subscribe select the area below:
-Employment: to subscribe, click here.
-Family Law: to subscribe, click here.
-Real Property: to subscribe, click here.
-Torts: to subscribe, click here.

Lawyer Master Mentoring™ Services

Lawyers (whether new or experienced) can rapidly create their dream law practices with the help of a master mentor who can help them think deeply, focus on what is essential, avoid distractions, develop their skills, avoid mistakes, answer their questions, and continuously improve their organization and systems. I offer an online video course and individual sessions to provide this much needed master mentoring to attorneys. For my lawyer master mentoring services visit my website at https://montymcintyre-law.com, email me at [email protected], or call me at (619) 990-4312.

Until my next blog post, stay safe and healthy.

Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee
Lawyer Master Mentoring™
California Case Summaries™
CA Civil Trial Attorney Since 1980
ABOTA Member Since 1995
Past President San Diego County Bar Assn., SD ABOTA Chapter
Phone: (619) 990-4312. Email: [email protected]