Jean M. Prendergast of Crisham & Kubes, Ltd. prevailed on behalf of the law firm of DiMonte, Schostok & Lizak and Stephen J. Schostok in a legal malpractice case pending before the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Court and affirmed the Circuit Court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant attorney and law firm. In a unanimous opinion, Justice Karmeier ruled that a cause of action for legal malpractice may not be sustained where the mere possibility of harm exists or the damages are otherwise speculative.

The legal malpractice plaintiff, a medical partnership, was jointly and severally liable for the verdict in an underlying medical malpractice action. The purported legal malpractice arose from a judgment against the medical partnership and in favor of the co-defendant hospital for indemnification. The court reasoned that the legal malpractice plaintiff/medical partnership was in no worse position as a result of the purported malpractice because it was jointly and severally liable for the medical malpractice verdict in the first instance. Thus, the court held that the plaintiff offered insufficient proof to meet the requirement of actual damages necessary to sustain a cause of action for legal malpractice under Illinois law. The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision reaffirms established principles of legal malpractice, which requires proof of actual damages in order to sustain an action.

For a complete copy of the opinion, please see Northern Illinois Emergency Physicians v. Landau, Omahan & Kopka, et al.