Court Opinion

ID: 9609490
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:27:51.747634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:54:05.939535
License: Public Domain

Judge LEWIS
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. Although I agree that expert testimony is not always necessary to establish the standard of care in attorney malpractice actions, I believe there must be some evidence, expert or otherwise, establishing the standard of care in order to survive a motion for a directed verdict. See Haas v. Warren, 112 N.C. App. 574, 436 S.E.2d 259 (1993).
*570I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Thomas Harris presented sufficient evidence of the standard of care in the case at hand. Harris explained the statute of limitations and explained that defendants-attorneys had failed to file their claim in time. However, simply explaining the mistakes committed is insufficient to establish the standard of care. In Progressive Sales, Inc. v. Williams, Willeford, Boger, Grady & Davis, 86 N.C. App. 51, 356 S.E.2d 372 (1987), this Court stated:
The evidence at trial is clear as to what [the attorney] did and did not do. What is not clear is the standard by which [the attorney’s] acts and omissions are to be weighed. That is the purpose of putting on evidence as to the standard of care in a malpractice lawsuit; to see if this defendant’s actions “lived up” to that standard.
Id. at 56, 356 S.E.2d at 375-76. See also Haas, 112 N.C. App. at 579, 436 S.E.2d at 262 (holding that evidence of “what other attorney’s do” is insufficient to establish standard of care, because need evidence of “what they should do”).
Furthermore, although he mentioned several other Rules of Civil Procedure, such as Rule 15 and Rule 41, Harris never mentioned that the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense under Rule 8. See N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rules 8, 15, 41 (1990). Thus, his later statements, made while discussing motions to dismiss and amendments to complaints, that the Rules of Civil Procedure are binding on attorneys practicing in North Carolina are irrelevant and provide no evidence of the standard of care regarding the statute of limitations.
As an alternate basis for its conclusion, the majority indicates that evidence of the standard of care may be altogether unnecessary in cases involving statute of limitations problems. I believe that the present case is more complex than a basic statute of limitations violation. Although a jury may very well calculate the time of the relative statute of limitations, I question whether the jury could as easily understand the other issues discussed in this case, such as amendments to pleadings, the principle of relation-back, and the implications and ramifications of a voluntary dismissal and refiling. The standard of care is the benchmark by which malpractice is measured, be it legal or medical. It must be clear and unequivocal lest the trier of fact be obscured in a cloud of uncertainty and injustice be done.
*571I believe the jury needed more guidance to determine whether the defendants-attorneys “lived up” to the standard of care in the relevant legal community in this case. I would conclude that plaintiff failed to establish the standard of care, and, therefore, I respectfully dissent.