Ambriz

I.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Celia Ambriz appeals from a judgment of the trial court entered after the court ruled in favor of defendants Mark Kelegian, Thomas Morgan, and Kelegian, Reed & White, LLP, on their motion for summary judgment. Ambriz hired Kelegian to represent her in a premises liability action she filed against the owners and managers of Ambriz’s apartment complex, after she was raped by an intruder in a storage room of the complex. The trial court in Ambriz’s premises liability case granted the defendants’ summary judgment motion. Ambriz then filed a legal malpractice action against Kelegian and the other respondents, alleging that they failed to conduct a sufficient investigation, failed to propound necessary discovery, and failed to prosecute Ambriz’s claims. Respondents brought a motion for summary judgment, contending that even if they did breach a duty of care owed to Ambriz, she could not demonstrate prejudice because she would not have been able to establish landowner duty or causation in the underlying premises liability action. The trial court granted respondents’ motion for summary judgment and entered judgment in their favor.

On appeal, Ambriz…