Proving Damages in Legal Malpractice Cases

Illinoislawyers.com is run by lawyers who want to help you find the right lawyer for your case and/or answer any questions that you have. If you want our help please contact us at any time. We help everywhere in Illinois.

Many people call us hoping to sue another attorney. Three conditions must exist to prove legal malpractice: an attorney-client relationship existed; the attorney breached a duty he or she owed to the client; and the attorney’s wrongdoing caused the client harm. Legal malpractice lawsuits can be hard to win. It is not enough that the prior lawyer was negligent; his or her error must have caused you damage We are able to help when they have actual damages. So the question is what qualifies as damages in an Illinois legal malpractice lawsuit?

“Damage” is the legal term for the amount you were harmed. In legal malpractice cases, you must show you would have been in a different financial position had the legal malpractice not occurred. If you cannot show the nature and amount of damages that were actually suffered as a result of the legal malpractice, your case will go nowhere.

This is where proving legal malpractice gets difficult. Essentially, there are two cases to prove in legal malpractice cases: first, that the prior lawyer was negligent; and second, that the result would have been different if the prior lawyer wasn’t negligent.

For example, you hire an attorney to represent you in a personal injury action to recover the cost of your medical bills and the attorney fails to file the lawsuit by the deadline causing you to lose the case. In order to bring a successful legal malpractice case, you must prove that if the deadline wasn’t missed you would have won the case and recovered a certain amount of money.

It is especially hard to prove legal malpractice where damages are speculative and you don’t know for sure what you would have gotten in the end. Proving that the lawyer made a mistake is not enough. For example, in a divorce case let’s assume you only get visitation of your child every other weekend and believe it’s because your attorney didn’t present evidence that your ex is a drug abuser. There is no way to really prove that a Judge would have ruled differently with this evidence. Even if they would have found differently how do you put a dollar amount on missing out on time with your child?

Because Illinois lawyers handle legal malpractice actions on a contingency basis (they get paid a percentage of your recovery if your case is successful), it can be difficult to get an attorney to take your case if they don’t think they can prove damages. That shouldn’t discourage you from seeking out help. If you are considering bringing a legal malpractice suit, we highly recommend that you get advice from experienced legal malpractice attorneys who will be upfront and honest about your chances of success. If you would like our help in finding an experienced attorney for your unique situation please do not hesitate to contact us. All calls are free and confidential.