Members of the Oregon State Bar must have legal malpractice insurance through the Professional Liability Fund. The minimum coverage is $300,000. (Patent attorneys can practice with permission from the US Patent office, and need not be members of the Oregon State Bar, and they may or may not have insurance.) Although the attorney is responsible for the care of the client, sometimes it is someone in the office who screwed up. This post discusses when mistakes are covered by the Oregon attorney's malpractice insurance.
A too-common error is serving a complaint late - missing the statute of limitations (or missing some other time deadline). Sometimes, it is a secretary or assistant who makes the mistake. Since the assistant messed up, is the attorney responsible? And is it covered by insurance? Yes. Yes.
The error is covered if committed by a person for whom the attorney is responsible and, at the time, the attorney was covered by insurance and the attorney's main law office was in Oregon. So, errors by secretaries and assistants are covered. But there is an exception.
What if the assistant is an attorney? Here's one situation. There are a lot of unemployed young law graduates who passed the Oregon State Bar. Some are serving as paralegals because they need the job and some attorneys need help that costs less than hiring someone as an associate attorney.
Another situation is when an attorney licensed in another state has a client with a matter in Oregon. Sometimes, the non-Oregon lawyer will associate with an Oregon lawyer for purposes of the one case only. What happens if the non-Oregon lawyer screws up the case?
Errors committed by the following are NOT covered by insurance provided by the Professional Liability Fund:
- Attorneys from another state, and
- Attorneys who claim that they are exempt from coverage by the PLF, such as an inactive member of the bar.
In conclusion, generally, if an Oregon lawyer handled your case and either the attorney caused you harm because of negligence, or if some assistant caused the mistake, then the mistake is probably insured and you should be able to recover.
Jeff Merrick, Oregon Trial Attorney
Injury & Employment Law
503-665-4234
The above is not legal advice. I cannot give you sound advice without knowing more information. It is intended to raise some issues for you to discuss with your own lawyer.
