What is (if any) the statute of limitations to file a legal malpractice suit against an attorney in Hawaii?

[adaya]

The attorneys my friend hired to represent him in his personal injury (assault by a family member) and family trust/real estate division cases have obviously not represented him to their best ability nor have they gotten him the best award possible. They charged him $60k for fees and basically sided with the "other side". Although witnesses and phone numbers were provided, they didn't contact any of them. The keep maintaining that because he hit first that he wouldn't get more than $20k in court. My friend's brother has a history of assault on him. He is a 5th degree black belt in karate. My friend had a TRO on the brother at the time. Brother attacked him at mother's graveside service--he came down the hill to attack near the cars where the fight happened. All of brother's witnesses' stories are basically coached and worded the same--my friend attacked brother at graveside. How could this be when the fight happened on the road near the cars. We had just arrived. Anyway, then there is the question of what happened to the family trust and mother's bank accounts that Brother forced mother to sign over to him as "general power of attorney". Neither attorney even addressed this issue when Brother told them that money is all gone. There was over $300k in those accounts. Then the division of the family property was in question. These two attorneys stood over my friend who was clearly very distraught and basically coerced him into signing a "global settlement agreement" for $240k. The family property alone was appraised at $900k! So it turns out that he gets $1 for his brothers' buying out his interest in the family home and $240k for the personal injury done this way "for tax purposes". The personal injury attorney got $31k for doing about 1/2 hr work in the mediation and the other attorney got the rest of the $60k. The ethics violations and malpractice is so obvious in this case it stinks! It's a long story and I've only told the bare bones. There are no callbacks, rude remarks (shut up! during a deposition and numerous times on loudspeaker of phone, etc.), going to court on my friend's behalf without any communication as to the outcome, refusal to provide an itemized billing account, the coercion to sign documents without reading them and much more. This whole ordeal has been stressful on my friend, let alone myself. I read in a legal brief somewhere about a third-party suing for damages in a legal malpractice case. I'm considering looking into this. I am filing a complaint with the State Disciplinary Council that governs attorney conduct. Any suggestions?

[sceley]

Generally all injury cases are three years.

[nissim42]

Well, this isn't likely to end well for you. While I think that perhaps your attorney could have done a better job, the truth is that you have to prove he committed malpractice. Nothing here points to that except the refusal to provide an itemized bill. But, some attorneys, like myself, don't bill on an hourly or per-item basis. (I provide flat fee service). Go get the Deposition transcript. As for the statute of limitations in Hawaii, it depends on what exactly you are claiming. Malpractice can be a variety of claims from Negligence to Fraud, etc. A good place to start is the University of Hawaii's law school. They have a legal clinic that may be able to help you and if they can't, they can direct you to other resources in Hawaii.