Summary
The Utah Supreme Court held that Dr. Jensen's legal malpractice claims against attorney Allen K. Young were barred by the four-year statute of limitations. The court concluded that the claims accrued when Young missed the statute of limitations for Jensen's defamation claims and that the discovery rule did not toll the limitations period because Jensen knew or should have known of his injury and possible malpractice claim before the period expired. The court affirmed summary judgment for Young.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- When did Jensen's legal malpractice claims accrue for purposes of Utah's four-year statute of limitations?
- Did the discovery rule toll the limitations period until an adverse judgment was entered in Jensen's underlying action against Channel 4?
- Was summary judgment proper because Jensen's malpractice claims were time-barred?
Holdings
- A legal malpractice claim based on an attorney's failure to timely file an underlying claim accrues when the limitations period on the underlying claim expires, because that is the last event necessary to establish the malpractice claim.
- The discovery rule did not toll the limitations period because Jensen knew or reasonably should have known both that he had been injured by the loss of his defamation claims and that he had a possible malpractice cause of action before the limitations periods expired.
Key quotations
“The statute of limitations on Dr. Jensen's malpractice claims were triggered when Mr. Young missed the deadline for filing Dr. Jensen's defamation claims.” (245 P.3d at 735)
“Because Dr. Jensen sustained both injury and damages when Mr. Young failed to timely file his defamation claims, the limitations period on Dr. Jensen's malpractice claims began to run at that point.” (245 P.3d at 738)
“We conclude that the district court did not err in refusing to apply the discovery rule to toll Dr. Jensen's malpractice claims.” (245 P.3d at 738)
Factual background
Attorney Allen K. Young allegedly failed to timely file defamation claims arising from two television broadcasts concerning Dr. Michael Jensen. The applicable one-year limitations periods expired on September 5, 1996, and June 17, 1997, while Jensen did not file his legal malpractice action until February 5, 2007. Jensen was informed that the defamation claims were likely barred, and the district court later dismissed those claims as untimely; he nevertheless argued that the malpractice limitations period should have been tolled until an adverse judgment resolved his underlying litigation.
Procedural history
Jensen sued Young for allegedly failing to timely file defamation claims against Channel 4. The district court granted Young summary judgment, concluding that Jensen's legal malpractice claims were barred by Utah's four-year statute of limitations. The Utah Supreme Court affirmed.