Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: what do i do

Choosing a place to repair a car doesn't involve practicing law, so choosing poorly isn't malpractice. You may have a claim against the attorney, but if you do it won't be a malpractice claim.

If the lawyer was working with the chop shop to steal your car from you then he should be prosecuted. I have a hard time believing a lawyer would do such a thing, since he would have so much to lose and so little to gain. Also, while lawyers might *recommend* a repair shop to a client, I've never heard of one actually taking the client's car there himself. How sure are you that this person really is an attorney?

Assuming that he's a real lawyer and was fooled by the criminals running the shop, he should be more than willing to give you and the police whatever help he can to find the thieves. You have the right to sue them if you can figure out who they are, but chances are they don't have any assets -- or at least any legitimate ones -- and won't pay any award you receive.

You may have rights against the other people involved in the accident, but they will be liable only for the damage and not for the subsequent theft.

If you have comprehensive coverage, your best bet is probably to make a claim to your insurance company and let them sort everything out.

Re: what do i do

More facts would be needed to ascertain if legal malpractice here is a plausible issue for your claims. However, you do have recourse and remedies under the facts given so far. For a free phone consultation, contact us directly this week.

Re: what do i do

Shop is liable. Give me a call and we can initiate a suit.

Re: what do i do

First, was the car stolen from the shop or did the shop steal the car? Just because a car disappears from a body shop does not mean that the shop itself is a chop-shop. However, assuming that it was a chop-shop, it's more likely than not that your lawyer did not know that it was. We lawyers work too hard to get where we are to send our client�s cars to chop-shops, even if some of us are scumbags (Of course not me). Chances are, no malpractice against your lawyer, forget about suing a Chop-shop because you'll probably never collect from criminals and if it was a real body shop, then you may have a cause of action against them.

Good Luck