Attorney Malpractice—Blown Deadline Costs $530,000 and Much More
Missed deadlines and blown statues continue to be a leading reason for lawyer malpractice lawsuits. Approximately twenty-five percent of legal malpractice claims result from calendaring issues. Claims can range from failure to know a deadline, failure to timely file, failure to record in a calendar or failure to respond to a calendar reminder. Law firms should use calendaring for all projects, events and deadlines. To prevent delays and missed deadlines, supervisory attorneys should perform a workload analysis of subordinate attorneys on a frequent basis.
Attorney Malpractice Insurers may require a Dual Docket process. A Dual Docket process involves 2 different calendaring systems maintained by 2 different people. At a minimum at least one of the calendaring systems needs to be computerized.
The calendaring claims frequency emphasizes the need for proper calendaring procedures. This frequent preventable error will turn into an attorney malpractice claim.
In a recent Georgia case the missed deadline resulted in a six figure malpractice verdict for the former client. But sometimes more than money is involved. The law firm’s malpractice resulted in a $530,000 verdict. Maybe of more importance then the financial cost was the cost to the mother who permanently lost her parental rights to her daughter.
Remember to calendar statute of limitations and deadlines properly. Prompt communication may allow an attorney to extend the deadline. If the attorney cannot meet the deadline, notify the client promptly. With the date missed out your insurer on notice of a potential claim.
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Lee Norcross, MBA, CPCU
California License # 0D87292
L Squared Insurance Agency, LLC ® DBA in California as L2 L Squared Insurance Agency, License # 0L93416
Managing Director, CEO
Lee@L2Ins.com
616-726-7080
