Magula v. Gossett
Magula v. Gossett
Opinion of the Court
Appellant, Michael Maguía, suffered an adverse summary judgment in this suit for legal malpractice arising out of appellees’ alleged negligence in a medical malpractice action. The summary judgment against Michael Maguía was founded upon his apparent failure to respond to request for admission’s which asked him to admit that the appellees had not been negligent in the medical malpractice action and that neither Michael nor his father, Steve Maguía, had been damaged by any alleged malpractice on the part of the appellees. We reverse.
This legal malpractice action was filed by Steve Maguía, a non-lawyer, naming himself and his son, Michael, as plaintiffs. Michael was an adult but there was evidence in the record that he was incompetent. At the time the summary judgment was entered against Michael there had been no guardian or guardian ad litem appointed for him.
Even if it were to be said that technically Michael had admitted the request by his failure to respond,
The summary judgment against Michael Maguía is reversed and this cause remanded for further proceedings.
. A guardian ad litem now has been appointed.
. It would seem elemental that if the request for admission was not served on Michael, no response was due from him. Appellees apparently take the position that they can effectively serve Michael by serving his non-lawyer father. That seems inconsistent with their position that since Steve is a non-lawyer he may not respond on behalf of Michael.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Michael MAGULA and Steve Magula v. Robert L. GOSSETT and Gossett, McDonald, Gossett & Crawford, P.A.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published