A Colorado state judge has ordered disbarred attorney Brian S. MacKenzie to pay $650,000 in damages to Talji Lewis, a former client who accused him of legal malpractice. MacKenzie failed to appear at a damages hearing on Friday in the ` District Court, where Judge Jill D. Dorancy granted Lewis’ request for damages related to MacKenzie’s negligence in handling her personal injury and workers’ compensation claims.
Lewis testified that she hired MacKenzie in August 2021 after slipping and falling at a King Soopers grocery store. Despite MacKenzie’s promise to “get right on it,” Lewis said the attorney stopped returning her calls, and he never filed her personal injury or workers’ compensation claims. The statute of limitations for her personal injury claim passed without action, leading Lewis to file the malpractice suit in June 2024.
The court awarded nearly $300,000 to cover Lewis’ medical expenses, as well as $50,000 for future steroid injections she will need for ongoing pain. In addition, Lewis received $200,000 for pain and loss of enjoyment of life and $100,000 for disfigurement damages due to the surgical plates and screws inserted in her arm.
