Butte, MontanaButte Legal Malpractice
Butte Legal Malpractice Lawyers: Missed Deadlines, Lost Cases, Estate and Real Estate Errors in Butte-Silver Bow
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If a lawyer’s mistake cost you a case, an inheritance, property or money in Butte, you may have a legal malpractice claim. You must prove the lawyer failed to use reasonable care and skill and that the failure caused a real loss, usually with expert testimony. You generally have 3 years from discovering the error, and never more than 10, so do not wait for the lawyer to admit it.
Believe a lawyer’s mistake cost you? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Why does an outside firm matter in a Butte malpractice case?
Butte is a close-knit legal community. Lawyers who practice in Butte see one another in the same courtrooms at the Silver Bow County Courthouse, serve on the same committees and refer each other clients. That is a strength of a small-city bar. It can also make it hard for someone harmed by a Butte lawyer to find another Butte lawyer willing to sue a colleague, or to be confident that a lawyer reviewing the file has no reason to go easy on it.
We are based in Great Falls. Before we take a Butte malpractice case, we check for conflicts, and we evaluate the lawyer’s work the way a jury would: by what a reasonably careful Montana lawyer would have done.
What kinds of lawyer mistakes do we see from southwest Montana?
Malpractice can happen in any practice area. In Butte and the surrounding counties, the matters most likely to involve significant money include:
- Estates and probate. Wills, trusts and estates are handled through the district court in the county where the person lived. Errors in drafting, in handling an estate or in missing a creditor or tax deadline can cost heirs a great deal, and sometimes they surface only years later.
- Real estate and old titles. Butte’s property history is unusually complex. Lots and parcels on and around the Butte Hill often trace back to mining-era claims, and some properties lie within areas addressed by EPA’s cleanup of the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund site (EPA). A lawyer who fails to address a title defect, an easement or a known environmental condition in a sale can leave a client holding the loss.
- Injury and wrongful death claims. A lawyer who lets the 3-year injury deadline pass, fails to present a claim against Butte-Silver Bow or the State in writing on time, or misses the Medical Legal Panel step in a medical case can end a valid claim.
- Business and employment matters. A missed 1-year deadline in a wrongful discharge case, or a contract that fails to protect the client’s stated goal, are common patterns.
- Litigation errors. Missed appeal deadlines, missed expert disclosures, or failing to communicate a settlement offer.
A disappointing result is not, by itself, malpractice. The question is whether the lawyer fell below the standard of care, and whether that caused a loss you can measure.
What happens with a legal malpractice claim from Butte?
- Protect the underlying matter first. If your case, estate or deal can still be saved, a new lawyer should act on it immediately.
- Request your complete client file from the lawyer or firm, in writing.
- Keep every email, letter, bill and document, and write down a timeline of what you were told and when.
- Get an independent review. We look at what happened, whether it fell below the standard of care, and what the loss is worth.
The “case within a case.” When the error happened in a lawsuit, you usually must prove that you would have done better in that lawsuit if the lawyer had done the job right (Lorash v. Epstein, 236 Mont. 21 (1989)). For a case lost in Butte, that means proving, often to a Silver Bow County jury, both the original case and the lawyer’s error.
Which court? A malpractice case against a Butte lawyer is usually filed in the Second Judicial District Court, Silver Bow County (§ 3-5-101(2), MCA), at 155 West Granite Street. If the lawyer and client live in different states, the case may be heard in the U.S. District Court, Butte Division, at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse (mtd.uscourts.gov).
Discipline is separate. A complaint to Montana’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel addresses a lawyer’s professional discipline. It does not award you damages and does not stop the malpractice deadline.
Montana law that applies
Briefly. Our Montana legal malpractice lawyer page covers the elements, experts and deadlines in more depth.
- Four elements: duty, breach, injury and proximate cause (Labair v. Carey, 2012 MT 312, ¶ 20; Labair). The attorney-client relationship establishes the duty.
- Experts: with limited exceptions, “only expert testimony can establish the standard of care in a legal malpractice case” (Babcock Place, 2003 MT 111, ¶ 21).
- Deadline: 3 years after you discover, or reasonably should have discovered, the error, but never more than 10 years after the error (§ 27-2-206, MCA). For estate plans and deeds, the 10-year limit can close a claim before anyone notices the mistake.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Butte case?
Because a malpractice claim is really two cases at once, the original matter and the lawyer’s error, and the defense will be a law firm and its insurer. We are based in Great Falls and handle cases statewide. Our attorneys travel to Butte to meet with you, take depositions and attend hearings and trial. There is no Boland Aarab office in Butte, and our jury trials have been in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We try cases: more than a dozen jury trials and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We know appellate court: the Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137), and our appellate record reaches back to 1977.
- We know federal court: more than 40 District of Montana cases over nine years, and two Ninth Circuit arguments by Samir Aarab.
- You work with the lawyers, Caitlin Boland Aarab and Samir Aarab, who handle your case themselves.
We also handle appeals from Butte and insurance bad faith cases in Butte. See our Butte personal injury page.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a lawyer from outside Butte really sue a Butte lawyer? Yes, when the facts support it and we have no conflict. Being based in Great Falls lets us review the work independently.
My parent’s estate was handled badly in Silver Bow County. Is that malpractice? It may be, if the lawyer fell below the standard of care and the heirs lost money as a result. The deadlines can be short, so talk with a lawyer promptly.
My lawyer missed the deadline on my injury claim. What can I do? You may have a malpractice claim, but you must prove what the injury claim was worth. Get your file right away.
Is a complaint to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel enough? No. Discipline is separate from compensation, and filing a complaint does not stop the malpractice deadline.
How long do I have to sue a lawyer in Montana? Three years from discovering the error, but never more than 10 years from the error itself.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
