The statue of limitation is 5yrs of legal malpractice in missouri, is there any exeptions to that?

[arvad]

When I was 18 I met with a lawyer about a personal injury case. I was injured in a school in missouri. I had asked the lawyer if there was a cap on how much you could sue a school for and he said NO! He then went on to tell his success on other cases and told me that I should probaly get about $700,000. I had already been offered $143,000 without lawyers. He gave me 2 choices on how to sign a contract. Either he would get 33% of the whole settlement or 50% of over and above what was already offered. If I were to get around the amount he quoted then the 33% contract would give me more money. In the end if he would have known the law I wouldn't have hired him because I would have gotten more without him. Instead he took advantage of me only being 18 and not knowing the law! Is there any exeptions since I was so young to make him pay. All I want was the money I was intitled to. I have permently disabled from the accident and only recieved $66,000, and still have ongoing surgeries. Only serious answers please!!

[bothan]

The statute of limitations is a defense he will raise if you sue him. In order to get around it, you need to see if you can shelter under the doctrine of equitable tolling-- did he do anything to prevent you from discovering his mistake? The fact that you did not understand the law until more than 5 years after the suit will not help you. He has to have done something, or some condition must obtain (you were in a coma for the 5 years) that makes his statute of limitations defense unfair under the circumstances. You are appealing to the judge's sense of fairness, but not to her personal code of ethics-- meaning, you have to learn about other cases where the equitable tolling doctrine was successfully applied in malpractice cases, and try to make your case look very similar to those previously successful cases. It's going to be hard-- go to a law library and ask a reference librarian to help you look up equitable tolling in the attorney-client malpractice context.

Bear in mind, even if you get around the SOL defense, you still have to make out your claim for malpractice, to which he will raise other defenses.

[calvert]

No, there isn't. Once the limit is reached, it is over. The only way past it is to convince a judge that the date should have started at X, which is still within the statute.