The regional leftybots are a-buzz over…

…some really, really mundane news.

Tom Emmer is  the subject of a legal malpractice lawsuit by a former client.

Given the typical leftyblogger’s understanding of the law, many of them are making a lot of this “story”.

However, the facts are these:

• Legal malpractice suits are far from uncommon.
• The vast majority that are filed are filed against lawyers that have malpractice insurance; while legal malpractice suits are quite difficult to win (because lawyers defend themselves pretty strenuously), most cases that actually are sent to trial involving lawyers that are insured get settled out of court.
• That’s presuming it gets to trial.  Most such cases, being filed over sour grapes over cases gone awry, or even just weak cases, are dismissed on summary judgment without ever seeing a jury.
• Many plaintiffs will use the threat of a malpractice suit to try to induce a quick settlement to avoid a public relations snag for the defendant and his/her firm.  This is especially true with higher-profile lawyers.
• And there is no more high-profile lawyer in Minnesota right now than Tom Emmer, attorney at law and, as the MNGOP’s endorsed candidate for governor in a very tight race, a guy with a lot of skin in the public relations game.

And, gosh golly, look at when the summary judgment hearing is scheduled (emphasis added):

OTHER EVENTS AND HEARINGS

09/17/2010 Summons and Complaint

09/17/2010 Certificate of Representation

09/17/2010 Notice and Acknowledgement of Service

09/17/2010 Notice of Motion and Motion

09/17/2010 Memorandum

09/17/2010 Affidavit-Other

09/17/2010 Affidavit-Other

09/17/2010 Affidavit-Other

09/17/2010 Affidavit of Mailing

09/21/2010 Notice of Case Filing

09/21/2010 Schedule Pre-Trial

09/24/2010 Affidavit-Other

09/24/2010 Affidavit of Service

11/08/2010 Motion Summary Judgment (10:00 AM) (Judicial Officer Halsey, Stephen M.)

Right after the election.

While there is no reason to believe that this case was filed by a political enemy of Emmer’s (the plaintiff is a businessman; businesspeople don’t care which party their customers are from, as long as the checks cash), it’s not unreasonable, given how legal malpractice cases work, to speculate that the timing makes perfect sense to the plaintiff.