The United States Court of appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

This legal malpractice case arises out of the failure of two sets of lawyers associated with two different law firms, Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian, LLP (Westerman) and Kratz, Quintos & Hanson, LLP (Kratz), to file necessary documents in the plaintiffs’ patent case, allegedly resulting in the plaintiffs’ loss of that case. The plaintiffs’ complaint alleged four counts against the defendants: Count I against both defendants for the original malpractice, Count II alleging that Westerman negligently gave legal advice after the original decision in the patent case issued and Counts III and IV alleging that advice Kratz gave regarding the malpractice case against Westerman led to the loss of the Count I claim against both defendants through the operation of the statute of limitations. In a previous appeal, we ordered Count I against Westerman to proceed to trial, dismissed Count I against Kratz based on the statute of limitations and remanded Counts II, III and IV to the district court for further consideration. On remand, the district court dismissed Count II based on the plaintiffs’ concessions and granted summary judgment to Kratz on Counts III and IV. The plaintiffs now appeal those rulings. We affirm