Opinion ID: 2805595
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Elements Of A Legal Malpractice Claim

Text: A cause of action for legal malpractice requires the existence of an attorney-client relationship which gave rise to a duty, breach of that duty by the defendant attorney, and that the [pecuniary] damages claimed by the plaintiff client must have been proximately caused by the defendant attorney's breach. Shevlin Smith v. McLaughlin, ___ Va. ___, ___, 769 S.E.2d 7, 9 (2015) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). This is all that must be pled by a legal malpractice plaintiff who alleges that malpractice occurred during the course of a civil matter. However, a legal malpractice plaintiff who alleges that malpractice occurred during the course of a criminal matter has additional burdens of pleading. These additional burdens are to ensure that courts [do] not assist the participant in an illegal act who seeks to profit from the act's commission. Zysk v. Zysk, 239 Va. 32, 34, 404 S.E.2d 721, 722 (1990). That is, it is the policy throughout the Commonwealth that a criminal defendant may not profit from a crime in a subsequent legal malpractice action. See Taylor v. Davis, 265 Va. 187, 191, 576 S.E.2d 445, 447 (2003); Adkins v. Dixon, 253 Va. 275, 281-82, 482 S.E.2d 797, 801-02 (1997). Consequently, actual guilt is a material consideration [because] courts will not permit a guilty party to profit from 6 his own crime. Adkins, 253 Va. at 282, 482 S.E.2d at 802. Relevant to this appeal, we have held that this material consideration requires a legal malpractice plaintiff, who alleges that malpractice occurred during the course of a criminal matter, to plead that the damages to be recovered were proximately caused by the attorney's negligence and were not proximately caused by the legal malpractice plaintiff's own criminal actions. Id. (holding that it is proper to sustain a demurrer if the legal malpractice plaintiff fails to satisfy this material consideration). Consequently, a legal malpractice plaintiff who alleges that malpractice occurred during the course of a criminal matter must plead facts establishing this element of the cause of action: that the damages to be recovered were proximately caused by the attorney's negligence but were not proximately caused by the legal malpractice plaintiff's own criminal actions. W.S. Carnes, Inc. v. Board of Supervisors, 252 Va. 377, 384, 478 S.E.2d 295, 300 (1996) (A demurrer will be sustained if the pleading, considered in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, fails to state a valid cause of action.).