Wrong Analysis Establishing Trial Court Error.

After losing her action against a business which allegedly permitted water and sewage to flow into a subleased premises causing damage, a plaintiff did not appeal. Instead she filed a legal malpractice action against her lawyer, alleging the lawyer failed to designate and call an expert witness at the trial on the issue of whether sewage qualified as a hazardous material under the sublease. The trial court sustained the lawyer’s demurrer without leave to amend. On appeal, the court affirmed, finding that in the underlying action, the trial court erred in not taking judicial notice of certain relevant statutes relating to hazardous materials. Thus, in the legal malpractice action, the plaintiff established trial court error in the underlying action, but did not plead a cause of action for legal malpractice. (Kasem v. Dion-Kindem (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 4; October 29, 2014) 230 Cal.App.4th 1395 [179 Cal.Rptr.3d 711].)