KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
Professional Negligence:
Persons are entitled to receive compensation for their
losses that resulted from the Professional Negligence
of attorneys, doctors, accountants, architects, dentists,
therapists, and other professionals.
Professionals are responsible for the harm caused by
them when they fail to exercise due care under the circumstances.
The care required of a professional is not measured against
the ordinary person standard. The care of a professional
is measured against the prevailing standard for that profession
in the local community.
Medical professionals are not responsible for more than
$250,000.00 in non-economic losses, regardless of the
grievous nature of the injury. A child facing a lifetime
of, for example: the loss of a leg; the inability to get
out of a wheel chair; the lack of bladder control; the
loss of cognitive skills; blindness; pain; etc.; is limited
to no more than $250,000.00 for those non-economic damages.
This the result of a law that by shorthand is called MICRA.
From this $250,000.00 limitation on recovery, the injured
patient must pay expensive experts to testify as to the
standard of care and causation, adverse to their fellow
physicians. However, now it is becoming more clear than
many person in the medical industry are not covered by
this arbitrary MICRA limitation on damages.
This MICRA limitation only applies to medical professional
negligence. Damages for harm caused by attorneys and legal
professionals are limited to what a client could have
recovered from the defendant in the case that was mishandled
by the attorney.
Many professional negligence cases also involve a claim
for breach of fiduciary duty which shifts the burden of
proof on the cause of harm suffered by the plaintiff.
Is an attorney responsible for telling a client to agree
to a stipulated judgment against her for $280,000.00 for
failing to file accounting in probate for her disabled
mother, telling her that it would be paid by the insurance
company but not telling her that the insurance company
would then sue her for repayment of the money? Result:
$1,063,835.00. Collini v. Black, BC 238087 Los
Angeles Superior Court.
Was an attorney responsible for telling a client he
had received a default judgment for more than $1,000,000.00
when in fact the case was dismissed for his failure to
prosecute? Pending . . . .
Is a surgeon responsible for leaving a sponge in the
leg of an elderly woman after surgery, which then produces
an infection that ultimately results in the amputation
of that leg? Pending . . .
Was an attorney responsible for filing a lawsuit against
an employer for sexual abuse of an employee and not including
any allegation of a violation of the Fair Employment and
Housing Act which gives the additional remedy of reimbursement
of attorneys fees? Result: $250,000.00 settlement.