Atlanta Mainstream goes deeper into news covered by the mainstream media -- posting documents to show the story behind the story.

DeKalb legislator told to pay $635,000 for legal malpractice

May 6 -- State Rep. Randal Mangham (right) should pay $625,000 in damages for legal malpractice, a DeKalb County jury concluded today.

The jury awarded $435,000 in compensatory damages to plaintiff Karen Smith, a former client of Mangham's, and $190,000 to her lawyers for attorney's fees.

That's more than double the $293,000 Smith was awarded in a 2005 trial of the case. Mangham did not pay that judgment and won a new trial last year.

The jury did not award punitive damages. But, as the foreman said in court, "It still hurts."

State Court Judge Edward Carriere Jr., addressing attorneys afterward, said the verdict seemed like a "win-win" situation. "It's not punitive damages so it's nothing that can't be shed through bankruptcy," he said.

The 2005 jury award included $175,000 in punitive damages. Georgia law does not allow a defendant to avoid responsibility for punitive damages with a bankruptcy filing.

Afterward, jurors told attorneys they were disturbed by Mangham's failure to respond to legal papers filed by an insurer's attorney denying blame in the accident, as well as his failure to properly serve representatives of the church with the suit. That led to the church, which had closed, being dropped from the case.

DeKalb jury enters 2nd day in legislator malpractice case

May 5 -- A DeKalb County jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours Tuesday in a case alleging legal malpractice by state Rep. Randal Mangham.

The jury is considering three days of testimony regarding Mangham's handling of a personal injury case stemming from a 1995 car wreck.

Mangham's former client, Karen Smith, claimed she suffered two herniated discs when a church bus ran her car off the road in southwest Atlanta. She hired Mangham to sue the church and driver, but a series of missteps culminated in the case being thrown out of court in 2004.

"This was a string of mistakes, a failure to communicate with the client [and] an abandonment of the client," Richard Harris, Smith's attorney, told the jury in closing arguments.

Mangham's attorney, Jeff Sakas, made little effort to contest that characterization of Mangham's actions.

But he challenged Smith's account of the accident, suggesting she had been speeding and distracted when the wreck occurred, and argued that she actually injured her back years earlier as a line worker at the Ford Motor Co. plant in Hapeville.

"It is clear that her story just does not make sense," Sakas said.

Mangham lost a 2005 trial on the malpractice charges and was ordered to pay $293,000 in damages. But he won a new trial a year ago over a ruling on his inability to call an expert witness.

DeKalb legislator, accused of malpractice, back in court

April 29 -- A DeKalb County legislator gets his day in court today to defend against a legal malpractice claim that has lingered since 2004.

Or not.

State Rep. Randal Mangham lost a 2005 trial in the case and was ordered to pay $293,000 to a client who had been injured in an auto accident. Mangham won a new trial last year when a judge ruled that one of Mangham’s witnesses should have been allowed to testify as an expert.

This morning, lawyers in the case began questioning potential jurors in the courtroom of DeKalb State Court Judge Edward E. Carriere Jr. But Mangham last week asked for a continuance because one of his attorneys, Richard Green II, dropped out of the case.

Opposing attorneys plan to push for the trial to begin today with no delays.

The case revolves around a 1995 car wreck involving a church van and Karen Smith's Ford Explorer on Cascade Road in Atlanta.

Mangham filed suit on Smith's behalf against the church and the driver of the van. But according to Smith’s complaint, Mangham:

--    Failed to serve process on the church after filing suit in 1998,

--    Submitted court filings they were inaccurate, inconsistent and long overdue,
--    Missed a critical court appearance in 2003,
--    Voluntarily dismissed the suit twice, barring Smith from pressing a claim, and
--    Allowed the statue of limitations to expire.

Mangham contends that Smith’s new lawyers bungled the case and it was their fault that the statute of limitations expired. He denied blame for the other legal issues.

A jury ruled against Mangham in December 2005 and granted $175,000 in punitive damages as part of the plaintiff's award.

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