I got a call recently from a woman who had hired a family friend to handle a car accident case. I looked up the lawyer, and it turns out that their regular practice is handling divorce and traffic cases, as well as some estate planning. But likely seeing $$$ dollar signs, the attorney signed up their friend for a personal injury case. Some friend.
As you might be able to guess, the lawyer didn’t know what he was doing, and he failed to file the lawsuit within the two-year time limit for doing so. There’s no way around that Illinois statute of limitations rule. Once it’s missed, it’s over.
The caller was hoping that she could now get the right type of lawyer because her “friend” admitted it was not a case he’d handled before. It was her belief that a Judge would hear that the missed deadline wasn’t her fault in any way and give her a break. Unfortunately that’s not how this works.
You are stuck with the mistakes your attorney makes. “Surely there must be something that can be done,” she said to me. The answer is, yes, there is. You have to sue your lawyer for legal malpractice.
Suing a lawyer is like suing a doctor. You have to show that they violated the standard of care and caused you a harm. In this case, the standard of care was to file a lawsuit within two years of the accident date. The harm is that she can no longer recover from the other party. She isn’t happy about it, but if she wants compensation, she has to sue her lawyer friend. The money will be paid out of his malpractice insurance. That’s what it’s there for.
This is what you do when a lawyer makes a mistake. It’s the same if they miss a deadline in a filed case that causes you harm. For example, we’ve helped in cases where clients lost their rights to marital property like a pension because their attorney didn’t turn paperwork in on time.
There are a lot of lawyers like this one who take on cases they shouldn’t. They act in their own best interests, not that of their clients. A lot of them will withdraw before the time to sue is up if they can’t settle the case out of court. That actually is allowed even if it leaves you scrambling at the last minute to try and find a new attorney. If they notify you about the statute of limitations before that time passes, it typically isn’t a malpractice case even if it’s unethical.
We have helped hundreds of people with Illinois legal malpractice lawsuits and would be happy to discuss a possible case with you. Call us any time at 312-346-5320 to speak with an attorney for free.
