What is the process of filing a suit against an attorney for malpractice? How does it have to be filed ( for e.g. motion, petition, complaint)? In terms of content what rules does the civil suit have to follow? Is it filed with the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas or with the district justice's office?
I am a California lawyer, but you would file a lawsuit for legal malpractice in the same manner as any other lawsuit. You file a complaint in court against the attorney, and include appropriate causes of action for professional negligence.
To establish any claim you must prove duty, breach of duty, that the breach caused the injury and that you suffered damages.
As a general rule, you have to prove two cases: First that you had a case, and second that your attorney was negligent in prosecuting your case.
The hard part of this case is proving actual loss. You must prove you are entitled to damages. Damages are speculative if there is uncertainty concerning the ability to precisely calculate the amount of damages.
Joseph Jonathan BrophyEthics / Professional Responsibility LawyerWhite Plains, NY ·
It seems that you are considering filing a legal malpractice suit without having a lawyer. Some states call that pro se, others call it pro per. I call it a really bad idea and a total waste of your time. Legal malpractice suits are extremely difficult to handle. You need an attorney with experience and expertise in legal malpractice cases. If you don't have one, you will lose. If you have a really good case, you may be able to find a lawyer who will work on a contingency. Don't do a thing without at least calling some lawyers and asking for their advice. If you have to spend some money, it will be worth it.
To be able to file suit, you would need an expert witness report first that would establish that there actually was some sort of malpractice.
As the other's mentioned, this is a complicated process and is one in which you would best be served by having an attorney. If you have a good case, many firms that handle these sort of matters would handle it on a contingency fee basis. If that is the case, it would actually initially be cheaper for you to hire an attorney since you wouldn't have any out of pocket costs. If you were to proceed without a lawyer, you would have to find an expert on your own, pay that experts fees (which are normally several hunderd per hour), you would have filing fees to pay, the cost of service, deposition costs, transcript costs, ect, not to mention alot of time lost on trying to figure out the processes.
I would suggest that you call around and have a few consultations with several firms. If none are interested in the case, then you may not have a case.
