Oehlerich v. Llewellyn

Christopher Oehlerich appeals from the trial court’s grant of David Llewellyn’s and Salvatore Serio’s motion for summary judgment on Oehlerich’s claims of legal malpractice. Because the trial court correctly held that Oehlerich failed to show that any alleged malpractice proximately caused his damages, we affirm. This case arose after Oehlerich was injured on the job at a construction site. Oehlerich was installing HVAC equipment at a house under construction when he fell through an unguarded opening in the foyer. Oehlerich hired Serio to pursue a worker’s compensation claim and also hired Llewellyn to represent him in a potential personal injury claim, signing a contract of employment with both lawyers on November 8, 1999. In April 2000, Oehlerich met with Serio and Llewellyn and was told that Llewellyn had determined that the personal injury claim was not viable. Llewellyn told Oehlerich that because the foyer opening was an open and obvious danger, Oehlerich had equal knowledge of the hazard. Also, because there would be evidence that Oehlerich fell while reaching for a hammer, he would be deemed to have assumed the risk of injury.

On August 22, 2001, Oehlerich terminated Serio from the worker’s compensation claim representation, and on August 31, 2001, Oehlerich hired new counsel to pursue the personal injury claim. Before the running of the statute of limitation, new counsel filed a claim for personal injury against Angel Patron, the subcontractor responsible for building framing for the work site.1 The case was subsequently dismissed without prejudice on June 28, 2004, because Oehlerich was unable to serve Patron.