Have you ever sued an attourney?

Question

Im working on closing a wholesale deal and the contracts are essentially all signed. However the homeowner has had many fights with the bank and she feels like her foreclosure attorney was negligent and didn't provide the evidence in court that she (the homeowner) had compiled.. She has a folder of organized information of the banks mistakes. She is in the process of moving out, however because we are of course trying to solve problems and help people. I told her I would reach out and see what I can find. So im asking does anyone have any background in this.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

“Urinating into the breeze”....I’ve sat in a lot foreclosure hearings, most of the things a borrower thinks is “relevant” means absolutely nothing.  Sadly, it’s like watching a train wreck in slow agonizing motion when a homeowner tries to mount a defense.  As mentioned, if you don’t pay your mtg, you lose your house..

Chris K. · Answer

@Michael Johnson

Legal malpractice cases --- at least in Pennsylvania --- are generally very difficult to bring and win. Even if you could "win" in theory, the damages you could recover for it is minimal. For example, take a situation where the attorney just flat-out misses the statue of limitation (i.e. deadline to file a lawsuit). While that is surely "negligent" in the common sense of the word, providing negligence in court requires you to prove damages. So how do you prove damages in this scenario? Your attorney messed up and now you can't sue someone. But the fact that you could've sued someone doesn't mean you were going to win that lawsuit. To over come this issue, you often have to have a "trial within a trial" where you try to prove that you would've won the underlying lawsuit had the attorney not missed the statute of limitation. Needless to say that's incredible time consuming and expensive to do.

If I had to guess, this person will struggle to bring a lawsuit against the former foreclosure defense attorney. In most residential foreclosure cases, the defendant doesn't really have a defense if they failed to make payment. There was some interesting legal cases during the 2008 crisis since many banks simply lost track of who held the underlying mortgage/note. But in most scenarios, the best that a foreclosure defense attorney can do for most residential defendants is to delay the inevitable and try to negotiate out a settlement. Not surprisingly, most foreclosure defense attorneys also work as bankruptcy lawyers.

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

Scott Mac · Answer

She might need a big bankroll to fund this.

That's my 2 cents.

Have you ever sued an attourney?

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