Q: If Attorney in legal malpractice presents false material to Court, do you need to name them in the case?

A: There are other methods you can take in the court to show the evidence is fraudulent to the jury to help your case.

A: In legal malpractice cases involving fraudulent documents, you generally don't need to name the defending attorney who presented those materials to the court in order to hold the original defendants accountable for the fraudulent content.

The attorney representing the defendant is acting as an agent of their client, and their actions in presenting documents to the court are typically attributed to the party they represent. This means that if fraudulent materials are submitted, the responsibility primarily falls on the defendant party, not their current legal representation. The court can address the fraudulent submission through various remedies, including sanctions against the party who benefited from the fraud, without requiring the representing attorney to be named as a defendant.

However, if you believe the attorney knowingly participated in fraud upon the court, you may have separate grounds for reporting this misconduct to the State Bar of California. Additionally, while not required for your malpractice case, you could potentially pursue separate legal action against the attorney who presented the fraudulent materials if you can prove they knowingly participated in the fraud. Keep in mind that courts take fraud very seriously, and there are established procedures for bringing such misconduct to the court's attention through motions to strike or set aside judgments based on fraudulent evidence.