Opinion ID: 2359290
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: dr. jensen failed to file his malpractice claims within the limitations period

Text: ¶ 13 First, we address whether Dr. Jensen filed his malpractice claims before the limitations period expired. The statute of limitations begins to run upon the occurrence of the last event required to form the elements of the cause of action. Williams v. Howard, 970 P.2d 1282, 1284 (Utah 1998). The last event required to form the elements of a cause of action for legal malpractice occurs on the date the limitations period runs on a client's claim. See id. Therefore, a client's claim for legal malpractice accrues on the date that the attorney misses the statute of limitations. Id.; see also Huff v. Roach, 125 Wash.App. 724, 106 P.3d 268, 270 (2005) (indicating that the statute of limitations begins to run on a legal malpractice claim when the attorney misse[s] the statute of limitations, effectively invading [his client's] legal interests); see also Adams v. Paul, 11 Cal.4th 583, 46 Cal.Rptr.2d 594, 904 P.2d 1205, 1209 (1995) (In the `classic' missed statute situation, in which the attorney negligently fails to file the underlying lawsuit within the applicable statutory period and does nothing further, the plaintiff suffers actual harm at the time the statutory period lapses because, assuming the claim was otherwise viable, the right and/or remedy of recovery on the action has been substantially impaired.). ¶ 14 Because Dr. Jensen's malpractice suit against Mr. Young was premised on the fact that Mr. Young missed the statute of limitations on Dr. Jensen's defamation claims, the limitations period on Dr. Jensen's malpractice action against Mr. Young began to run when the statute of limitations expired on Dr. Jensen's defamation claims. The limitation period on Dr. Jensen's defamation claims ran on September 5, 1996 for the first broadcast and on June 17, 1997 for the second broadcast. Thus, his legal malpractice claims against Mr. Young arose on those dates. ¶ 15 The limitations period for a legal malpractice claim is four years. See Utah Code Ann. § 78B-2-307(3) (2008). Applying the four-year statute of limitations to the dates on which Dr. Jensen's legal malpractice claims arose reveals that Dr. Jensen's malpractice claims against Mr. Young expired on September 5, 2000, for damages arising from the first broadcast and on June 17, 2001 for damages arising from the second broadcast. Because Dr. Jensen did not file his malpractice claims against Mr. Young until February 7, 2007 which is more than six years after the limitations period expired for the first broadcast and more than five years after the limitations period expired for the second broadcast, his legal malpractice claims against Mr. Young were not filed within the applicable statute of limitations.