In the quickly evolving field of lawyer malpractice, one area that seems to get less attention than others is compensable damages. The question is: What types of damages can a client legitimately expect to be awarded as a result of his or her lawyer’s substandard handling of a matter?
New Jersey courts have been willing to push the envelope in this area, permitting, for example, recovery of attorney fees as compensatory damages to the prevailing plaintiff (Saffer v. Willoughby, 143 N.J. 256 (1996)), emotional distress due to loss of liberty (Snyder v. Baumecker, 708 F. Supp. 1451, D.N.J. 1989)), and emotional distress where the lawyer botches a client’s noneconomic claims (Kohn v. Schiappa, 281 N.J. Super. 235 (1995)). Our neighbor Pennsylvania has been less bold.
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