Attorney faces malpractice lawsuit

While attorney Freeman R. Bosley Jr. awaits a state panel’s decision on his punishment for mishandling clients’ funds, a former client is suing the onetime St. Louis mayor for mishandling his lawsuit.

A malpractice suit is scheduled for a March 10 hearing in St. Louis Circuit Court. The suit was filed in April and alleges that Bosley and his firm, Bosley & Associates, missed the deadline for filing a workers’ compensation claim on his behalf.

According to the suit, the Plaintiff was injured on his job in August 2007. He retained Bosley a month later. Bosley’s firm began negotiating with University City officials on a settlement, but didn’t file a claim with the Missouri Division of Workers Compensation within the two-year window set by law. So the door closed on the Plaintiff’s claim.

As to the pending suit, Brown said, “The claim is disputed and we’re certain it will be resolved in the courts.” The suit also names as defendants Bosley’s firm, Bosley & Associates; his sister, Karen Bosley; and two other lawyers in the firm, Harvey Eugene Taylor Jr. and Robert T. Hart.

Bosley was elected St. Louis mayor in 1993 after serving 11 years as the city’s circuit clerk. He went into private law practice after he lost a 1997 re-election bid.

Bosley previously came under scrutiny when, while a Missouri History Museum trustee, he talked with the museum about selling a one-acre plot of land he owned. Bosley then quit the board, and the museum bought the land for $1 million.

Thanks to Joe Holleman and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.