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Law firm headed to trial over alleged malpractice

by | Jan 17, 2020 | Legal Malpractice |

Major League Baseball fans in Florida might be interested to learn that former MLB player Lenny Dykstra has filed a lawsuit against Boucher LLP for legal malpractice. The lawsuit was recently scheduled for trial on July 21, 2020, in Los Angeles.

According to the allegations in the complaint, Dykstra filed a civil complaint against multiple deputies in April 2014 after he allegedly was beaten while he was in custody at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles in 2012. He subsequently hired Boucher LLP in September 2015 to represent him in his civil rights case. Dykstra alleges that the firm did nothing meaningful over a 14-month period in his case. The attorneys at Boucher LLP claim that Dykstra lied to them multiple times, and they determined that they could not win his case. They met with him in September 2016 to inform him that they would withdraw from his case, and Dykstra reportedly fired them soon after the meeting began.

The court encouraged Boucher LLP and Dykstra to try to settle. Attorneys for Boucher LLP said that a settlement is unlikely since Dykstra had already turned down a generous offer. Dykstra’s lawyers said that they will decide after the court rules on some pretrial motions in March.

People who believe that their lawyers were negligent in their representation might want to consult with legal malpractice attorneys. While simply not obtaining the desired outcome is not the basis for a claim, an attorney who is negligent in how he or she handles a client’s case might be liable to pay damages. A legal malpractice lawyer could help a client understand whether they might have valid grounds to file lawsuits against a former attorney.