Posts Tagged: "U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit"

D.C. Circuit Finds No Proximate Cause in Patent Attorney Malpractice Case

On June 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) affirmed a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Seed Co. Ltd. v. Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian, LLP in a legal malpractice case resulting from the failure of lawyers from two different law firms, Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian, LLP (Westerman) and Kratz, Quintos & Hanson, LLP (Kratz), to file necessary documents in the plaintiffs’ patent case. The D.C. Circuit affirmed the district court’s finding that the plaintiffs waived any claim for damages arising from its allegation that Westerman was negligent in giving legal advice in a patent case. The Court also affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment where the plaintiff failed to establish that another law firm’s (Krantz) legal advice was the proximate cause of its injuries.