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597 So. 2d 363

Docket No. 91-992.

Chipman v. Chonin

Nolan P. CHIPMAN, Appellant, v. Neil CHONIN, et al., Appellees.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1992-04-14

Relies on 385 So. 2d 98 - Tuttle/White Constructors v. MONTGOMERY, ETC. · 528 So. 2d 45 - Davenport v. Stone · Vukovich v. Leo

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1992-04-14

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently May 2012

5 state decisions

50199220002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1*364 Nolan P. Chipman, in pro. per.

¶2Rumberger, Kirk, Caldwell & Wechsler, P.A., F. Laurens Brock and Jodi R. Young, Miami, for appellees.

¶3Before NESBITT, JORGENSON and LEVY, JJ.

¶4PER CURIAM.

¶5Nolan Chipman appeals from a final summary judgment entered in favor of the defendants in a legal malpractice/breach of contract case. We affirm.

¶6A party cannot recover damages for legal malpractice unless it is shown that the lawyer neglected a reasonable duty which was the proximate cause of the client's loss. Davenport v. Store,528 So.2d 45 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988). In breach of contract actions, a plaintiff may recover only if the damages were a proximate result of the breach. Tuttle/White Constructors, Inc. v. Montgomery Elevator Co.,385 So.2d 98 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). Chipman alleged in his complaint that the defendant's withdrawal as counsel caused him to lose monetary damages in an age discrimination case. However, the record is devoid of any evidence which would support this claim.[1] Any loss of these damages must be attributable to Chipman himself, since he chose to voluntarily accept his former employer's settlement offer. Accordingly, the trial court correctly entered final summary judgment in favor of the defendants. See Vukovich v. Leo,447 So.2d 1012 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (where reasonable minds cannot differ, proximate cause becomes a question of law).

¶7Affirmed.

NOTES

¶8[1] The record indicates that: (1) the defendant properly withdrew from the case ten months before trial was scheduled; (2) Chipman engaged new counsel; and (3) Chipman fired his new counsel approximately four weeks before the start of trial.

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