Madison County woman claims legal malpractice in suit against St. Louis attorney

A Madison County woman accuses a St. Louis attorney of failing to properly represent her in a personal injury case.

Gloria Jones filed a malpractice claim Jan. 9 in Madison County Circuit Court against Scott Sherman.

Jones says she hired Sherman in January 2006 to represent her in an injury claim she filed against Schnuck's Markets Inc. In the original complaint, Jones alleged that she was hurt by an automatic door at a Schnuck's grocery store in Granite City in January 2004. After filing the lawsuit against the food store, Jones claims Sherman did not prepare for trial and did not conduct discovery or communicate with her about the status of the case.

Jones says she remained a client of Sherman's through February 2010 when he advised her to dismiss the case because he believed there were problems with it. However, Jones alleges her lawsuit against Schnuck's was already dismissed in January 2009, without her knowledge, because of a failure to pursue the case by her attorney. Jones says Sherman did not attend the motion hearing and never told her of her case's dismissal.

Jones contends Sherman lied to her and hid his mistakes in his handling of her case. Therefore, she missed the opportunity to re-file the lawsuit before the statute of limitations ended in January 2010. She says she would likely have won a judgement against Schnuck's Markets had the case been presented at trial.

Jones accuses Sherman of legal malpractice and seeks more than $50,000 in punitive damages plus court costs.

Attorney Jeffrey S. Damerall of St. Louis is representing Jones. They ask for a jury trial.

Madison County Circuit Court Case No. 12-L-36