When it comes to professional malpractice, timing can be everything. If you feel you’ve been the victim of legal malpractice in New York State, don’t wait to contact a personal injury law firm. You need to know that the Statute of Limitations and Professional Malpractice in New York grants a three year period to file a lawsuit.
As with any lawsuit, however, the devil can be in the details. For example, the statute of limitations doesn’t kick in until after your lawyer stopped representing you. This is referred to in the law as the doctrine of “continuous representation.” If, say, malpractice occurred in January of 2011, but the offending lawyer continued to represent you until June of 2012, the three-year deadline kicks in beginning in June, 2012. It’s not unheard of for lawyers to hide the fact of the malpractice from the client, and the client doesn’t discover the malpractice for years. In some cases, you will therefore have more than three years from the date the malpractice happened.
The important thing to remember is that knowing if the Statute of Limitations deadline has passed or not can be complicated. Don’t rely on your own judgment or make assumptions which may not be supported by existing law without competent legal advice. Seek the advice of a lawyer with experience in Statute of Limitations law to find out if you still have time to move forward with your case.
Your attorney will also help you understand if you have a legal malpractice case, whether it involves a real estate transaction, personal injury or family law. In general, you can seek damages for legal malpractice in the following situations:
- Your lawyer missed an important legal deadline
- Your lawyer didn’t satisfactorily investigate relevant facts
- Your lawyer didn’t appropriately review a contract
- Your lawyer violated professional standards of conduct
- Your lawyer violated legal ethics
If you have questions about the statute of limitations or feel you’re the victim of any of these forms of legal malpractice, contact us today.
