A New Jersey maternal fetal medicine specialist who was sued for medical malpractice and had a $6 million judgment entered against him has sued his former defense lawyers for legal malpractice involving the underlying representation. The doctor alleges that his former lawyers failed to advise him that the medical malpractice plaintiffs had formally offered to settle their claims agianst him in the amount of his available malpractice insurance coverage (i.e., $1 million), which he would have accepted if he was advised about the settlement offer, and that his defense lawyers were further negligent in failing to timely serve expert reports supporting the theory that the child’s injuries were not the result of any negligence but was due to gestational alloimmune liver disease (GALD).
The underlying medical malpractice case involved the birth of twins in 2011 during which one was born with brain damage due to the lack of oxygen to her brain during delivery. The New Jersey medical malpractice trial in 2018 resulted in the jury awarding $20 million to the plaintiffs ($11 million for the injured child’s future care costs, $8 million for her disability and loss of enjoyment of life, and $1 million to her parents for loss of consortium) with the jury allocating 30% fault to the plaintiff in the legal malpractice case. The jury determined that the obstetrician was 70% at fault (the obstetrician settled before trial).
The managing partner of the defense law firm has stated in response to the allegations of legal malpractice against his law firm, “We are aware of the lawsuit. We deny the allegations and intend to vigorously defend the case.”
In New Jersey, the elements of a legal malpractice action are (1) the existence of an attorney-client relationship creating a duty of care by the defendant attorney; (2) the breach of that duty by the defendant, and (3) proximate cause of the damages alleged by the plaintiff. Attorneys in New Jersey must provide services with reasonable diligence and must exercise that degree of reasonable knowledge and skill that lawyers of ordinary ability and skill possess and exercise. The law recognizes that in the practice of law, an attorney cannot guarantee a favorable outcome. Therefore, the practice of law according to accepted legal standards may not prevent a poor or unanticipated result. Therefore, whether the defendant attorney(s) was/were negligent depends not on the outcome, but on whether defendant attorney(s) adhered to or departed from the applicable standard of care.
If you or a loved one may have been injured (or worse) as a result of medical negligence in New Jersey or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a New Jersey medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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