can i sue my previous florida lawyer?
Question by Queens1: can i sue my previous florida lawyer?
i was a juvenile at the time and was lied to about the plea deal i took.is it possible to sue him because the plea deal was a lie and as greatly affected my life?
i got into a fight with someone who was bullying me and i hurt him real bad i was gona take it to trial and i really wanted to and use self defense and try and beat it but he told me to take a plea which will put me in a program and probation and i wouldnt have a record once my probation was complete i have been looking for work for 3 years and i just now did a bg check and my serious violent charge comes up.is there anyway i can sue him for lying to me???? i was also a juvenile at the time i didnt know any better or anything about the law he just lied to me and told me to go along with it.
Best answer:
Answer by raviet31
You CAN sue anyone, but whether you would win or not is a different story. It takes money to sue, hundreds to file a lawsuit pro se and thousands to hire an attorney.
If you were a juvenile and were adjudicated delinquent, then your records should be eligible to be sealed when you turn 18. If you were convicted as an adult, then your records will remain.
Pleading guilty carries with it life changing consequences. The problem you will be faced with is that the judge would have explained the consequences of your plea. So, even if your attorney had told you something wrong, you should have told the judge of your concerns. After all the judge does ask if someone is telling you to plead guilty. If you answered “no” but actually it was “yes” you technically committed perjury.
All is not lost. Write or call the Court that sentenced you and ask what you need to do to have your records sealed. It may be as easy as just writing a letter to the judge or you may need to hire an attorney. Either way, it will probably be a lot easier for you to pay $ 150 for an attorney to write a letter than to pay $ 10000 for an attorney to sue an old attorney.
Good luck.
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I swear I think I have heard about this before, some sort of setup between judges, lawyers and some sort of company. They get people into these juvenile programs where the state pays this company a huge amount of money and some of the money is handed off to the judge and the lawyer. A huge mud slide of corruption. If you felt strongly enough about it, I would say absolutely. But learn this lesson now, read before you sign.
In general, to successfully sue for malpractice in a criminal case, you must first obtain relief from the conviction. So, you would make a motion to withdraw your plea, and persuade the judge that the plea was entered in ignorance of the consequences.
In all likelihood, the court will note that having the “charge” appear in a background check is not the same as having a conviction appear and that you were not misled. However, that is not carved in stone and you might be able to persuade the judge to allow you with withdraw the plea and start the case over again. Then, if you succeed, you can look into suing the lawyer for damages.