Improperly Settling a Case May be Grounds for a Tennessee Legal Malpractice Case

By Thomas Greer | January 19, 2014

When you have made the effort to contact and retain an attorney, something serious happened to impact your life.  It is important for you to get the right help in order to get the justice that you deserve.  You have to trust that the attorney whom you hired will do everything possible to get you the damages that you need in order to move forward with your life.  This is not a windfall, but compensation for actual harm that was done to you.  If your attorney takes a quick out and settles the case without your authorization, you may have a claim.

In order to have a claim for legal malpractice, a client must prove that:

  • Your attorney owed you a duty to represent you and your interests in the case – this means that your attorney must have been retained in such a matter that an attorney/client relationship was established.
  • The attorney was in breach of his duty through negligent actions or failing to honor the terms of the agreement.
  • The breach of duty resulted in actual harm to the client.
  • The client suffered a quantifiable economic injury.

If you retained an attorney who initially sat down and performed a case evaluation that placed a high value on the damages that you could receive as a result of the harm that was done to you and then you received a much smaller financial recovery as a result of a settlement or jury trial, there may not be anything that you can do.  Although most attorneys are able to provide a reasonably close estimate about damages, there are always facts specific to the case that will alter the outcome.  However, if the attorney settled the case without your approval or authorization, then you might have an action for legal malpractice.

There are times when you may have provided an authorization where you gave your attorney permission to settle the case if it fell within a specified range.  In addition, the retainer agreement that you may have signed might have contained a clause that authorizes your attorney to settle your case and execute a settlement and release agreement without any further action on your part.  If you did not provide any authorization then the attorney may be liable for malpractice.

If you believe that your attorney settled your case without permission then you should request a copy of the settlement check as well as the settlement breakdown sheet.  Frequently, the check will have been made out to you and your attorney, so the attorney should not have been able to deposit it without your endorsement.  You should be certain that the settlement amount is the same as the check that you are provided.  There may have been several checks that total the settlement amount.

Legal malpractice cases are very complex.  In addition to having to prove that the attorney committed malpractice through the breach of contract or negligent behavior, it is necessary to demonstrate that you would have received more money had the attorney not settled your case without authority.  The skilled Tennessee legal malpractice attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC understand how to succeed with the “case within a case” as well as the legal malpractice action.  We will evaluate your case and provide an honest assessment about the likelihood of success in order to determine the strategy that works best for you and your family.  In order to make an appointment for your case review, call 901-680-9777.  At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.

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