Does the statute of limitations for attorney malpractice run until the client has settled his criminal case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Goebel v. Lauderdale, 214 Cal.App.3d 1502, 263 Cal.Rptr. 275 (Cal. App. 1989):

This case is similar to In re Easterbrook, supra, 200 Cal.App.3d 1541, 244 Cal.Rptr. 652 where the court concluded that an action for attorney malpractice did not accrue until a verdict had been rendered in the client's criminal case. In that case, the court stressed that "there has been no verdict in the criminal case and [the client] has, at most, suffered only speculative harm which does not suffice to create a cause of action for negligence." (Id. at p. 1544, 244 Cal.Rptr. 652.) Similarly, in Robinson v. McGinn, supra, 195 Cal.App.3d 66, 240 Cal.Rptr. 423, the court held that the [214 Cal.App.3d 1508] statute of limitations for legal malpractice did not began to run until the client had exhausted his administrative remedies.

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