Can a plaintiff recover damages if he loses his right to sue a third party for negligence?

First, Foxborough v. Van Atta (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 217 (Foxborough). There a client lost the right to automatically annex a parcel of land thanks to land use malpractice by his attorney. He argued collateral litigation against a third party could have recouped his losses and "cured" his attorney's negligence. The court held that the damages occurred when he lost the right that he had hired his attorney to secure. (Id. at p. 225, 227.) The appellate court said: "Thus, when malpractice results in the loss of a

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