In this case, Fontaine v. Steen, 759 N.W.2d 672 (2009), Jayne Fontaine sought to challenge the district court’s decision in the Minnesota District Court of Appeals. Ms. Fontaine was in a lengthy divorce battle and she was seeking an injunction to grant her deed to a property her ex-husband owned. Apparently, her husband had allowed the mortgage of a deed to default, (the case does not mention if this was an intentional act to keep her from acquiring it in the divorce.)
Ms. Fontaine’s attorney determined that she needed an expert testimony to prove that she had a case, since she was seeking a summary judgment, the statute of limitations to find such a witness was 60 days.
“[L]egal-malpractice actions are governed by a statute with provisions for expert review and witnesses that are nearly identical to expert-review provisions of the statute regarding medical malpractice.”
After she was unable to find an expert witness to testify on her behalf, the 60-day statute of limitations expired, and so her case was dismissed.
She decided that her attorney was at fault for her losing the case so she tried to sue the law firm for malpractice and in addition tried to recover $90,000.00 in legal fees.
“Respondents denied appellant's allegations, counterclaimed for payment of outstanding legal bills, demanded that appellant comply with the expert disclosure requirements stated in Minn.Stat. § 544.42 (2006), and warned that, by statute, failure to comply with the expert-witness requirements could result in dismissal of appellant's action with prejudice.”
The appeal for the case was tried in the Minnesota District Court of Appeals. However, since Ms. Fontaine was not able to come up with any convincing support of her appeal, her case was dismissed.
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When the system of injustice requires one to obtain a witness from the peers profession it is nearly impossible. To acquire the testimony of another lawyer stating that a peer committed malpractice opens the doors for all attorneys to be held responsible for their mistakes!
ReplyDeleteThere is no justice when it comes to the mistakes made by the attorneys. They have written laws that protect themselves from being held accountable for their decisions and lack of education!
Our rights to due process have and are continually being stripped. To require a person to find an expert witness and to pay 3-5 thousand dollars for an expert witness testimony that states another attorney created malpractice is not going to happen.
In this case 3 MN Court of Appeals Judges in their 2001 decision had already determined the lawyer had made the mistakes that caused the wife to lose possession of her home, by filing her action in the wrong court.
It is a travesty of injustice that the litigant was not able to be heard through a technicality of law created by attorneys for attorneys so they are not held responsible for their actions!
The way the laws are written there is no way to find a attorney that will go up against another attorney and be a paid witness to state that they created malpractice...if one did so they would be an outcast as it would open all attorneys to the scrutiny of their actions!
And yes the husband and father intentionally defaulted the property to deny the wife her share of the equitable estate.
NEXT TIME YOU DECIDE TO WRITE READ ALL THE DOCUMENTATION ON THE CASE BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO WRITE ON THE SUBJECT...