John Bagley and Mike Lavoie Win Appeal in First Circuit Legal Malpractice Case

Morrison Mahoney partner John Bagley and associate Mike Lavoie won an appeal in the First Circuit for a client in a legal malpractice case. In the case, we moved to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint which asserted four claims under 42 USC § 1983 and one claim under 42 USC § 1985 against our client, an attorney who had been appointed special prosecutor by a municipality for an underlying lawsuit concerning plaintiff’s illegal wiretapping of the municipality’s employee.  Essentially, plaintiff alleged that the underlying lawsuit was an abuse of process and that our client conspired to interfere with his civil rights.  While our motion argued several bases for dismissal, the USDC disposed of all the claims on the basis that the complaint was filed after the statute of limitations expired.  Plaintiff’s Rule 59(e) motion was denied, and plaintiff then appealed to the First Circuit.  The First Circuit affirmed both the dismissal and the denial of plaintiff’s Rule 59(e) motion.