Legal Malpractice Legal Questions

I'm afraid it's too late.  (3) An entity, whether or not incorporated, facility, or institution employing one or more persons described in subsection (1) of this section, including, but not limited to, a hospital, clinic, health maintenance organization, or nursing home; or an officer, director, employee, or agent thereof acting in the course and scope of his or her employment, including, in the event such officer, director, employee, or agent is deceased, his or her estate or personal representative; based upon alleged professional negligence shall be commenced within three years of the act or omission alleged to have caused the injury or condition, or one year of the time the patient or his or her representative discovered or reasonably should have discovered that the injury or condition was caused by said act or omission, whichever period expires later, except that in no event shall an action be commenced more than eight years after said act or omission: PROVIDED, That the time for commencement of an action is tolled upon proof of fraud, intentional concealment, or the presence of a foreign body not intended to have a therapeutic or diagnostic purpose or effect, until the date the patient or the patient's representative has actual knowledge of the act of fraud or concealment, or of the presence of the foreign body; the patient or the patient's representative has one year from the date of the actual knowledge in which to commence a civil action for damages.... Read More

Its possible, but some of what you described is not malpractice, such as waiting for US Attorney to schedule depositions. You also run into the issue when there are limited values paid for legal fees on a case, such as the Federal Tort Claims Act. While such statutes are touted as "saving consumers money", they typically simply limit the quality and quality of the lawyering work that can be devoted to such claims or simply disenfranchises clients from lawyers. As you may imagine, no lawyer is going to spend $100,000.00 in legal billing time to recover a $10,000.00 fee. A good example of this is at the heart of the Florida Medical Malpractice provisions with a 10% fee. Touted as reducing legal fees from evil greedy lawyers, it was REALLY an effort to drive lawyers out of the med-mal arena so greedy doctors and hospital could keep thier money, since virtually no lawyers would take such cases and serious injured people simply "take one for the team" and are now crying foul (rightfully) that doctors can mangle people with impunity unless the damages are death ro catastrophic. In any event, you will need to retain a lawyer to review the case and figure out what the lawyers did or did not do and whether and how this is related to the damages you referenced.... Read More

This is not really a legal malpractice issue but I'll offer what I can. How did the fee arbitration option come about? Was it in the attorney's contract? If it was, what does the contract say about who pays the arbitrator? About where the arbitration is to take place. If the attorney was representing you on a WA state matter, more likely than not, the arbitration would have to take place in the state of WA.... Read More

Your complaint is that your attorney is not being candid with you and is not properly advising you as to the status of the claim. 12 years seems to be a very long, perhaps too long of a period of time. Since you lawyer will not answer your questions, I recommend that you contact the Kentucky Bar Association -- follow this link: www.kybar.org/235 -- for the procedures to file a complaint against the attorney. Sometime, just filing the complaint will get you the answers you need as the KBA will contact the lawyer to find out exactly the status of the case.... Read More

If you believe that the Magistrate acted inappropriately, then you can report the magistrate to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel at the Ohio Supreme Court.  Participants in legal proceedings have a qualified immunity from civil claims, so you would likely be unable to pursue the magistrate for damages. Realistically, I seriously doubt that anyone would be so interested to pay $6 to get the CD. ... Read More

I am certainly sorry for your loss. Ohio has a 1 year statute of limitation for medical claims.  The 1 years runs from the latest of the date of the malpractice, the date of the discovery of the malpractice, or the date you were last seen by the medical provider that is alleged to have committed the malpractice. From the information you provided, I cannot give you a date for the running of the statute of limitations. In any event, you likely need to move very quickly to obtain new counsel.  I recommend contacting the local bar association in your area for a referral. Note that in Ohio to pursue a medical claim you have to present an affidavit of merit.  The affidavit is signed by a doctor and states that the doctor has reviewed the records, that malpractice has occurred, and that the doctor is wiling to testify.  The affidavit needs to spell out the specific malpractice. As to the missing records, that is more difficult.  One way to determine if records are missing is to try to match up the records in the chart with the billing records.  Sometimes there is "billing" that is not supported by the "records" and can help support a claim that records have been "removed."... Read More

I recommend that if you have a complaint against a Kentucky lawyer, then you should contact the Kentucky Bar Association for assistance.  The number is 502-564-3795.  The KBA has an extremely proactive bar counsel office that can potentially assist you with resolution of your concerns or refer you to an attorney that could further assist you.... Read More

Attorneys have a very strict ethics code.  The local bar association as well as the Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel enforce the code.  You may want to contact the local bar association and speak with the bar counsel about the situation.  Sometimes a phone call from bar counsel to an attorney may resolve the communication issues.  If you elect to fire the attorney, then he is required to refund the unused portion of the retainer and provide an itemized statement of account.  Again, bar counsel might be your best source if the attorney does not cooperate or return your calls.... Read More

No. and tell "some people to shut thier pie holes." There is obviously much more to this story than related, but I can assure you  no lawyer would guarantee you a settlement in a premises liability case let alone within 3 months. if you have record of the injury now, by whatever, means, simply retain a new lawyer and get onwith your claim.... Read More

Noone on the facts presented as your likely past the statute of limitations. If you are serious about pursuing some claim on this, you will likely have to retain a lawyer out of pocket to address this. Claims of "not stopping" until justice is done are just hollow threats and do little to address your issues.... Read More