Professional Malpractice Attorney
Whether you were given poor legal advice, or a doctor misdiagnosed cancer, you may be entitled to compensation if you suffered economic or physical damages. All professionals have a duty of care to their clients, whether they are accountants, engineers, attorneys, or doctors. By violating their duty of care, they can be held responsible for a victim’s damages, including medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning ability, pain and suffering, various forms of financial harm, and more. Here at Simms Showers LLP, our professional malpractice attorneys will investigate potential wrongdoing by subpoenaing records, working with experts, and accessing whether a breach of fiduciary duty or duty of care occurred.
Professional Malpractice Claims We Pursue
Various professionals who hold licenses have a fiduciary duty or duty of care to their clients or patients. An act of intentional misconduct, or plain negligence, can be grounds for a lawsuit. Here at Simms Showers LLP, our professional malpractice attorneys handle the following types of malpractice claims:
- Medical malpractice;
- Dental malpractice;
- Therapist malpractice;
- Veterinary malpractice;
- Legal malpractice;
- Engineering malpractice;
- Architect malpractice;
- Accounting malpractice;
- Financial malpractice; and
- More.
Was the Professional Negligent?
Misdiagnosing a serious illness is, of course, a much different type of negligence than an attorney failing to file a medical malpractice lawsuit within the statute of limitations (which is two years in Virginia), which, in turn, is a much different type of negligence than an engineer’s faulty design of a condominium complex. Each type of negligence requires special knowledge of the industry and the law. As such, it is important that your attorney not only have a broad understanding of these different industries, but also that they work with professionals and expert witnesses to reconstruct what happened. By getting to the root cause of the negligent act, we can show how the professional violated the duty of care that you were owed. Duty of care or breach of fiduciary duty essentially means that the professional broke an industry standard, and in so doing caused you harm. Negligence, unlike misconduct, is unintentional.
Other Forms of Misconduct
In some cases, a professional may have knowingly committed an unlawful act, such as an accountant manipulating financial statements or embezzling funds. In addition to the criminal charges that the professional may face for misconduct, they also can be sued for damages.
Do I Have a Valid Claim?
According to the American Bar Association, in order for an attorney, for example, to be guilty of legal malpractice, you should ask these three questions:
- Was the attorney negligent?
- Did the mistake cause damage?
- Were the damages significant?
If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then you have a claim worth pursuing. The same is true of medical malpractice, financial malpractice, dental malpractice, and other forms of professional malpractice.
Reach Out to Our Malpractice Attorneys for Help
If you are a victim of medical malpractice, financial malpractice, legal malpractice, or another form of professional malpractice, you are not alone. There is reason to have hope. Call the professional malpractice attorneys at Simms Showers LLP today to schedule a free consultation.
