Lessons In A Professional Liability Claim

Professional liability actions provide good teaching lessons for future plaintiffs and defendants and their legal representatives. Although a plaintiff may firmly believe that they have a valid cause of action against their previous lawyer, the facts of each case must be carefully reviewed and marshaled to ensure that their claim is not dismissed. For defendants, the facts of each case are also important, particularly where the events that give rise to the action occurred more than two years before the action was commenced. A claim that was discoverable more than two years before it was started will be vulnerable to dismissal on the grounds that it is statute-barred.

In Greenspan v. Goldman, 2022 ONSC 5578, two lawyers who were sued for, among other things, negligence, fraud and conspiracy in connection with mortgage investments made by the plaintiff, obtained summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff's claim against them because it was started too late and was