Legal Malpractice Results

No attorney can guarantee a client will prevail in any given action.  Nevertheless, in selecting an attorney, it is often helpful to look at that attorney's track record.  Set forth below are results from Klein & Wilson in legal malpractice cases.  You can also click on the hyperlink significant case results to see other types of cases Klein & Wilson has handled and the results in those cases.

ReadyLink HealthCare v. Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, LLP
$9 Million

In this case, a broken and desperate client came to Klein & Wilson after being betrayed by the law firm of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, LLP ("Lewis Brisbois").

Lewis Brisbois charged the client almost $5 million to represent the client in a series of complicated cases.  As a result of poor legal analysis, Lewis Brisbois urged the client to pursue a case at a cost of over $2 million, even though Lewis Brisbois should have recognized the damages in the case would probably be less than $100,000.  Unfortunately, Lewis Brisbois gave the client unrealistic damage scenarios, which could not be proved.  Worse yet, Lewis Brisbois did not recognize that the defendants' insurance policy would not cover the claims in the lawsuit and, therefore, any judgment would be difficult to collect.

In another matter Lewis Brisbois handled for the client, Lewis Brisbois went to trial on a claim of trade secrets theft.  The firm assigned an attorney who had minimal trial experience in business litigation matters and no experience handling a sophisticated trade secrets case.  The net result is that the trial attorney was lost and befuddled at trial.  The client, therefore, lost a case that should have been won easily.  Not only did the client fail to recover many millions of dollars of damages, the adverse verdict exposed the client to over $1 million of legal fees incurred by the defendants and a claim of malicious prosecution.

In yet another matter, Lewis Brisbois encouraged the client to file an action against an attorney defending one of the claims Lewis Brisbois was handling.  After Lewis Brisbois charged hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal fees to the client suing opposing counsel, the court dismissed the claims against the attorney and the attorney threatened to file a claim for malicious prosecution.

But the client's victimization did not end there.  To prosecute a malpractice action against Lewis Brisbois, the client hired an attorney who claimed to specialize in legal malpractice claims.  But the malpractice attorney did almost no work to move the case against Lewis Brisbois toward trial in the approximately 18 months he handled the case.  Concerned the case might be dismissed, the client hired Klein & Wilson to take over the case against Lewis Brisbois.

Klein & Wilson took over the case against Lewis Brisbois, taking approximately 40 depositions and developing a comprehensive strategy to win at trial.  After a two month trial, Klein & Wilson recovered a jury verdict awarding all the damages that the client should have recovered in the underlying matters.  The jury also found Lewis Brisbois had massively overbilled the client and awarded those damages as well.  After the verdict, the judge added on almost $2 million in prejudgment interest and every penny of its attorneys' fees resulting in a final award of over $9 million. Klein & Wilson did such an outstanding case presentation, Lewis Brisbois settled the case because it recognized it had no chance to win its appeal.

Doe v. John Roe (Case Confidential)
$200,000 Settlement

Klein & Wilson's client asked Klein & Wilson to evaluate bills generated by one of the largest law firms in the country.  That law firm billed the client almost $1 million in just a few weeks of handling the matter.  Klein & Wilson was able to convince the law firm the matter had been mishandled and over billed.  After extensive negotiations, Klein & Wilson and its client were able to settle the matter for only $200,000.  Klein & Wilson believes that but for Klein & Wilson's reputation for handling these types of cases, this settlement would not have been possible.

Kessler v. Horan
Plaintiff's Verdict

Klein & Wilson's client purchased real estate in Newport Beach, California.  The client's lawyer grossly mishandled the purchase transaction resulting in clouded title and other complications.  The attorney denied all liability and the case went to trial with the defendant attorney being represented by one of Orange County's most experienced trial attorneys.  Klein & Wilson prevailed and recovered all damages the client requested.

Sjostrom v. Pepper Hamilton, LLP
Confidential Settlement

The client hired Pepper Hamilton, LLP to handle the sale of his company.  Pepper Hamilton, LLP assigned a relatively inexperienced attorney to handle part of the transaction, resulting in a mistake in the transactional documents.  Klein & Wilson was able to achieve a settlement for its client maximizing the client's recovery.

Wells Fargo v. Cahill
Confidential Settlement

A trustee sued Klein & Wilson's client and an attorney for malpractice relating to the lease of a property in Southern California.  As a result of Klein & Wilson's effective cross-examination of the trustee, Klein & Wilson was able to show there was virtually no likelihood the trustee could prevail in the case.  Klein & Wilson's client was able to settle the case favorably for less than 10 percent (10%) of what it would have cost to try the case, had it gone to trial.