 Causation & Damages FAQs
 What is causation?- My lawyer failed to file my lawsuit on time, and the statute of limitations expired. Now I have no claim. My lawyer caused me to lose the claim, right?
- So if my lawyer’s malpractice occurred while she was representing me in a lawsuit, now I have to prove two cases in one?
- What are damages?
- Are damages limited to any specific amount?
- How do you prove what would have been collected in the underlying case?
1. What is causation?
Causation is one of the elements of a legal malpractice claim (and really of any kind of negligence claim). A legal malpractice plaintiff must prove that the lawyer’s negligent act or omission caused the client to suffer an injury, which almost always is a financial loss of some kind.
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2. My lawyer failed to file my lawsuit on time, and the statute of limitations expired. Now I have no claim. My lawyer caused me to lose the claim, right?
Yes, but now we must prove the value of what you lost (that is, the value of your original claim). This can be one of the most difficult parts of proving a legal malpractice case, because now the client has to prove, not only what the lawyer did wrong (that’s the breach element discussed elsewhere), but also that, had it not been for the lawyer’s mistake, the client would have recovered. Proving the client would have won the underlying case is proving causation.
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3. So if my lawyer’s malpractice occurred while she was representing me in a lawsuit, now I have to prove two cases in one?
Yes. Legal malpractice lawyers call it the “case within a case.” When the lawyer was representing the client in litigation, the legal malpractice case frequently is decided on the basis of whether the client’s original case had merit.
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4. What are damages?
Damages are the final element that must be proven in a legal malpractice case. Damages are the monetary amount necessary to compensate the plaintiff/client for the injury caused by the defendant/lawyer.
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5. Are damages limited to any specific amount?
It very much depends on the facts of the specific case. One additional “wrinkle” of legal malpractice claims is that part of the plaintiff’s proof of damages includes proof of collectibility of the underlying defendant. You must prove not only that you were entitled to recover damages in the underlying case, but also that you could have actually collected some amount of money.
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6. How do you prove what would have been collected in the underlying case?
Take the example of an underlying auto collision case in which you had medical expenses of $30,000 and a valid claim for pain and suffering that may be valued at another $50,000. (This is a very simple example and not meant to take into account all of the details or nuances of an actual case.) If the defendant in that case had a liability insurance policy with a limit of only $25,000, and no significant assets, then even if you could prove that your injuries would justify an award much greater than $25,000, you cannot prove that you could have collected more than $25,000 because that was the policy limit of the defendant’s insurance. Generally, you can recover any amount that the evidence shows as a legitimate amount of your damages, subject to proving that you could have actually collected that amount from the original defendant.
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