Contact a legal malpractice attorney. Few attorneys accept legal malpractice cases, but those who do are highly specialized. You can find the ones in your area by contacting your state’s Bar Association or searching for legal malpractice attorneys in your state.
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An employee may be able to sue their employer under certain circumstances. Claims against an employer might involve the following areas of the law: Sexual harassment: The law recognizes two types of sexual harassment that occur in workplaces. The first is what is called “ hostile work environment sexual harassment .”.
Sep 09, 2019 · Newspaper, telephone directory, radio, television, and Internet ads, along with direct mail, can make you familiar with the names of lawyers who may be appropriate for your legal needs. Some ads also will help you determine a lawyer’s area of expertise. Other ads will quote a fee or price range for handling a specific type of “simple” case.
Feb 12, 2022 · For example, if you hired a lawyer to draft a marital separation agreement, find your copy of the agreement. Additionally, your lawyer is required to maintain a copy of your entire file, and give you notice before they destroy it. If you have a legal malpractice case you should obtain your file or hire an attorney who will obtain it for you.
If you've hired a new lawyer, ask her for help in getting your file. Also, ask your state bar association for assistance. If that doesn't work, as a last resort you may need to sue your lawyer in small claims court, asking the court for money to compensate you for what you've spent on redoing work in the file or trying to get the file. Research
Employment law applies to disputes between an employer and an employee. If you have a workplace dispute or issue that cannot be resolved by your employer, you might be able to file a lawsuit against the employer.
Breach of Employment Contract: If an employee has a contract of employment with the employer, and the employer breaches the contract, the employee may file a lawsuit. Examples of breaches of conduct include an employer’s failure to pay the employee the amount agreed to in the contract, or withholding some other benefit provided in the contract.
In addition, an employer may not fire or otherwise retaliate against an employee for filing a workers compensation claim. Unlawful retaliation for Whistleblowing: A “whistleblower” is an employee who reports unethical or illegal conduct by their employer.
It is also illegal to interfere with an employee’s FMLA right to leave. Discrimination Violating the Equal Pay Act: The Equal Pay Act protects against gender discrimination. This federal law requires employers to pay employees equal pay for equal work, regardless of their gender.
An employee may be able to sue their employer. Claims against an employer include: Sexual harassment: There are two types of workplace sexual harassment. The first is known as hostile work environment sexual harassment. This kind of sexual harassment occurs when a person engages in unwanted and offensive conduct that affects ...
These plans vary. Many cover most, if not all, of the cost of legal consultations, document preparation, and court representation in routine legal matters. Other programs cover only advice and consultation with a lawyer.
Some legal aid offices have their own staff lawyers, and others operate with volunteer lawyers. Note that people do not have a right to a free lawyer in civil legal matters. I have been accused of a crime, and I cannot afford a lawyer.
However, we tend to see common mistakes that lawyers make over and over, including: 1 Inaccurate billing; 2 Missed deadlines; 3 Failing to communicate with the client; 4 Settling a lawsuit without the client’s consent; 5 Giving inaccurate legal advice; 6 Stealing or losing money or property that belongs to the client; 7 Incompetently drafting legal documents that do not protect your rights; 8 Failing to file a case before the expiration of the statute of limitations; and 9 Taking a case despite an existing conflict of interest.
Before pursuing a legal malpractice case, pull together all relevant documents and information. Collect communications between you and your lawyer as well as information about the case that led you to hire the attorney in the first place.
Damages in a negligence malpractice claim are quantified by what was recovered and what would have been recovered but for the attorney’s negligence. A typical example of negligence occurs when an attorney fails to file a case before the statute of limitations expires.
When a negligent lawyer falls below this standard of care, they have committed legal malpractice.
Additionally, your lawyer is required to maintain a copy of your entire file, and give you notice before they destroy it. If you have a legal malpractice case you should obtain your file or hire an attorney who will obtain it for you.
In some situations, you can file a grievance but the grievance does not get the client compensation for their financial losses.
Lawyers may make mistakes from time to time. A claim of malprac tice may exist if your lawyer exhibited negligence in your representation. If your lawyer’s negligence caused you to suffer harm or a less advantageous outcome or settlement in your case, you may have a claim to sue your lawyer for professional negligence.
Some other causes for lawsuits against contractors include: The contractor completes the job but unsatisfactorily; The contractor completes the job but the work violates safety standards; The contractor took advantage of the homeowner, such as by accepting a deposit or payment but then failing to complete the agreed upon work; or. ...
The most common are: Breach of Contract Claim: Breach of contract refers to one party failing to follow through with their side of a contract.
As can be seen, suing a contractor typically requires that you first prove there was a breach of contract, or at a minimum an agreement for services to be performed. Regardless of whether you have a written contract or not, suing a contractor is often a complicated and lengthy process. This is especially true since state laws vary.
The reason that you can still sue a contractor without a written contract is because you may argue that an implied or oral contract was formed. For example, if you hire a contractor to paint your whole house, but they only paint 80% of your house, you may be able to have a court enforce your oral contract by having the contractor partially refund ...
Breach of contract claims generally allow a homeowner to recover damages such as a refund of payments made to the contractor. Alternatively, they may be able to refund the difference in costs for hiring a new contractor to complete the project.
12. Defamation . Although this is a good reason to sue your employer, you need to be sure that you understand what true defamation is. Defamation only occurs when an untrue statement is made about an employee that results in the employee losing employment opportunities and potentially pay as well.
When you are certain that you have a reason to sue your employer , you need a lawyer who is readily available to you and knows the law backward and forward. Every employment issue has its own factors despite being similar to broader categories, and a lawyer spots the similarities and differences within your case.
However, when an employer mismanages a personal injury situation, legal action can be a natural repercussion. Employees have a right to a safe workplace, and when it can be proved that the employer was negligent in some way, employees have a case. 8. Employment Discrimination. Discrimination is a buzzword in society.
When an employee deals with sexual harassment from a boss, manager, or supervisor, they also face the very real chance of losing their job or suffering negative employment action when refusing the advances. File a complaint with your human resources department or notify a neutral supervisor about the situation.
To win an employment discrimination case, you must be able to prove four things. First, you must be part of the legally protected classes, and second, you must be able to perform your job well.
Sometimes employers force employees to unknowingly or knowingly violate federal or state law. Employees who recognize that they are being pressured into lying on the behalf of their employer could become liable as well for the illegal behavior. Job security should never be based on illegal activity.
Discrimination is a buzzword in society. In the last few years, employment law has better defined what actions and protected classes are secured from discrimination. While obvious discrimination is easy to recognize and respond to, subtle discrimination can also be ground for a complaint.
Perform discovery. After filing a lawsuit, each side is able to request documents in the possession or control of the other party. They may also ask that witness answer questions, either in writing or in an oral deposition. If you don't already have copies of your employee handbook or personnel file, then you can request them now.
Only a qualified employment attorney can offer tailored legal information and assess the strength of your case. To find an employment attorney, you can search for one online, by typing “employment lawyer” and then your state into a search engine.#N#You can also search through online phone directories, such as Yellow Pages, Yellow Book, or Switchboard.#N#Visit your state’s bar association website or call them and ask for a referral. State bar associations keep referral lists which can be searched by area of legal specialty.
Engage in settlement negotiations. You may engage in settlement negotiations with your employer at any time. During negotiations, you and your attorney meet with your employer and its attorney to discuss settling the case. Most employment cases end up resolved outside of court, so take settlement discussions seriously.
In order to win a lawsuit against your employer, you will need to prove that the action taken was either in violation of the contract or against the law. You will have to state the specific violation in your complaint. If suing for breach of contract, you should quote the contract provision your employer violated.
Statute of limitations for breach of contract vary by state. In California, you must file suit within 4 years. In Illinois, you have 10 years. You must file a formal complaint with the EEOC within 15 days of receiving notice from your counselor about how to proceed.
In an employment lawsuit, you will have the option of using a jury to decide your case. In civil trials, the number can vary by state, with juries of 12 or 9 being common. In many states, civil juries do not have to be unanimous.
Whether you win or lose, you may lose your good reputation . During lengthy employment law litigation, you may discover that no one is interested in either granting you an interview or in hiring you. Even if you do win the lawsuit, the amount awarded may not be large enough to tide you over until you can find a new job.
If that doesn't work, as a last resort you may need to sue your lawyer in small claims court, asking the court for money to compensate you for what you've spent on redoing work in the file or trying to get the file.
If you lost money because of the way your lawyer handled your case, consider suing for malpractice. Know, however, that it is not an easy task. You must prove two things:
Every state has an agency responsible for licensing and disciplining lawyers. In most states, it's the bar association; in others, the state supreme court. The agency is most likely to take action if your lawyer has failed to pay you money that you won in a settlement or lawsuit, made some egregious error such as failing to show up in court, didn't do legal work you paid for, committed a crime, or has a drug or alcohol abuse problem.
A common defense raised by attorneys sued for malpractice is that the client waited too long to sue. And because this area of the law can be surprisingly complicated and confusing, there's often plenty of room for argument. Legal malpractice cases are expensive to pursue, so do some investigating before you dive in.
If the lawyer is unresponsive and the matter involves a lawsuit, go to the courthouse and look at your case file, which contains all the papers that have actually been filed with the court. If you've hired a new lawyer, ask her for help in getting your file. Also, ask your state bar association for assistance.
If you can't find out what has (and has not) been done, you need to get hold of your file. You can read it in your lawyer's office or ask your lawyer to send you copies of everything -- all correspondence and everything filed with the court or recorded with a government agency.
A lawyer who doesn't return phone calls or communicate with you for an extended period of time may be guilty of abandoning you -- a violation of attorneys' ethical obligations. But that's for a bar association to determine (if you register a complaint), and it won't do you much good in the short term.
If you claim emotional distress in a lawsuit, the employer is usually entitled to find out all about any trauma you may have suffered, including physical and sexual abuse, psychological conditions, psychiatric conditions, diseases, divorces, plastic surgeries, accidents, crimes, arrests, and deaths.
A lot of employment issues can be resolved internally. The benefit of getting them resolved internally ( if possible) is that you can usually continue working in peace, and - if you have a true "legal" issue - get it resolved before you suffer too much harm.
The company can easily deny receiving a visit or phone call, but hard for them to say that they did not receive a cert ified letter. If the company does help resolve the problem (whether you liked their solution or not), the company should give you a letter documenting what was done to resolve the issue.
While an employee must be honest in any discussions with management and HR, the employee should definitely speak to an attorney sooner than later if they believe in good faith that a legal violation may have occurred. Follow the sage advice stated above - document, document, document - from the very beginning.
The employer can also get your medical and psychiatric records, at least within limits. If the employer finds out that you had any of these other things going on in your life, then it can argue to a judge or a jury that whatever it did to you ( "all of which the Defendant denies") was not that big a deal.
The next step consists of serving a summons to the lawyer, which must be delivered in person. A summons provides notice to the defendant of a lawsuit that there is an action pending against him. The summons will compel the defendant, in this case the attorney you are suing, to answer the complaint filed against him.
When lawyers don't perform their duties as expected, they may be guilty of legal malpractice. If you suspect your attorney has misrepresented you, or has performed incompetently, you may have grounds to file a lawsuit.
You must be able to show that the attorney either failed to uphold her part of your contract, breached her fiduciary duty or was negligent. Beyond that, you mush show that you were harmed by the attorney's action or inaction. If you can show this to be the case, you may have grounds for a lawsuit.
This limit varies by state. Florida's statute specifies two years, for example, while New York allows up to six years for contract actions. Some may be as short as one year.