Court Opinion

ID: 9662787
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:18:20.610462+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:42.541388
License: Public Domain

JAMES LEVIN, Special Justice,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I dissent. I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
In May, 1991, the appraisal secured by Meade County Bank indicated that the value of the property was substantially less than its outstanding debt. That, plus the fact that the bank had knowledge of the fact that its debt was secondary to a prior debt, certainly gave the bank sufficient knowledge of its non-speculative damage and revealed more than the “mere probability of damages.” At that point the bank reasonably discovered it had been injured by professional malpractice and the statute of limitations began to run from that time. Although it may not have known the exact amount of its loss, the bank had knowledge of the fact that it was injured and was going to suffer a substantial loss.
KRS 413.245 states that an action for legal malpractice shall be brought within one year from “the date of occurrence or from the date when the cause of action was, or reasonably should have been, discovered.” I concur with the opinion of the trial judge that “it is knowledge of a viable cause of action which commences the statute.” The bank knew of the malpractice and knew the bank was damaged more than one year before the action was filed.
The case of Alagia, Day, Trautwein & Smith v. Broadbent, Ky., 882 S.W.2d 121 (1994) is not dispositive. There, the attorney’s continued representation and assurances delayed the discovery of the malpractice, and the statute was determined to commence from the date of the discovery. In this case, the bank discovered its loss could not be recovered at the time it received the appraisal.