Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC v. Law Firm of Richard M. Squire & Associates, LLC
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
2010 WL 5122003 (2010)
Bayview (plaintiff) foreclosed on a property that later sold for well below market value and hired the Squire law firm (defendant) to pursue the resulting deficiency, but Squire failed to file the statutorily required petition to fix the property's fair value within the six-month deadline, causing Bayview to permanently lose its right to pursue the deficiency, and then concealed that failure and its consequences from Bayview. Bayview sued for legal malpractice, alleging breach of both the duty of competent representation and the fiduciary duty of good faith, and Squire moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
Whether, to prove legal malpractice, a client must establish that a client-attorney relationship existed, that the attorney breached a professional duty of care, and that the attorney's actions were the proximate cause of the client's damages.