Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in Virginia

In 2007, my commercial jewelry store suffered damagaes resulting from a fire in the commercial gun store/target range next door. After months of negoiating with the insurance companies, we hired an attorney to file a product liability suit. However, the attorney "sat" on the file for 2 1/2 years returning it to us with no work product and past the statue of limitations. I filed a request for judgment due to errors and omissions, which the opposing attorney answered with a Defendants Demurrer, to which I responded. However, now the attorney has called us and advised us that he intends to ignore this lawsuit. My questions is what can I now file to get a hearing date in front of a judge or to force the hand of the defendant to respond. Can he legally ignore this suit.


Asked on 2/09/11, 9:00 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Eugene Policastri Bromberg, Rosenthal, LLP

To answer your precise question, the hearing on the demurrer must be scheduled. Find out from the clerk the usual day for hearings and file a Line or Praecipe asking the Court to schedule the hearing on the date that fits within their scheduling guidelines. You need counsel to help you with your case - it requires a showing that the lawyer breached the standard of care, that damages were proximately caused by the breach. You will need an expert attorney to provide that opinion and that requires some degree of merit to the underlying case.

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Answered on 2/09/11, 9:19 am


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