4-1 Introduction

• Jurisdiction: United States

4-1 Introduction

Florida legal malpractice claims are subject to numerous affirmative defenses.¹ The availability of any particular defense, however, is highly fact-dependent.² In addition, a given defense must be raised in a timely manner and sufficiently pled.³

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Notes:

^[1] A good example of this fact is Garofalo v. Proskauer Rose LLP, 253 So. 3d 4 (Fla. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 2018), review denied, 2019 WL 1320547 (Fla. 2019). In that case, Fla. Stat. § 95.031(2) (a), which acts as a statute of repose and cuts off fraud claims after 12 years, was held to apply to a law firm's opinion letter regarding the legality of a tax shelter. The court rejected the plaintiff's argument that the law firm owed it a continuing duty to disclose errors in the letter.

At one time, the economic loss rule was thought to...