Legal Malpractice

Judgement and Hindsight in Legal Malpractice Cases

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

Professional Judgment is what we hire attorneys for, and what we expect from them.  Litigants are generally unable to proceed through difficult thickets of choice of courts, choice of strategy, choice of questions to ask at a trial.  Nevertheless, we expect that our attorney will exercise correct and satisfactory professional judgment.  When the client suspects that a bad result came is a departure from good and accepted practice, rather than justified by the facts, a legal malpractice case will follow.

In our examination of STONEWELL CORP., and RICHARD GLADSTONE, Plaintiffs, -against- CONESTOGA TITLE INSURANCE CO., WILLIAM KOLSHORN, 04 CV 9867 (KMW)(GWG) we looked at the legal malpractice definitions and application.  Today, we look at the professional judgment defense.

"The Court is not persuaded by Stonewell's contention that Dollinger was negligent in advising Stonewell to proceed in the "bias[ed] forum" of the Middle District of Florida instead of the more "impartial" forum of the New York district court. (See Pl. Resp. at 10, 13, DE 126.) The Court will not endorse the view that some district courts are "biased" while others are "impartial," and that an attorney's duty to a client includes determining whether or not a court is "biased." The appropriate inquiry is whether the defendant-attorney exercised a "degree of care, skill and diligence commonly possessed and exercised by a member of the legal community." Nobile, 265 F. Supp. 2d at 288. Based upon the record before the Court, Dollinger met the requisite standard of care and conduct in pursuing the first "innocent owner" petition. 5

 Stonewell's reliance [*19] on Rubens v. Mason, 527 F.3d 252 (2d Cir. 2008), is without merit. In Rubens, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the district court's granting of defendant's motion for summary judgment in a legal malpractice suit, holding that one alleged act -- the attorney's decision not to present an expert witness in an arbitration proceeding -- may have constituted negligence. In a highly fact-specific analysis, the appellate court noted that, under some circumstances, "[d]etermining whether [the attorney's] alleged failures were negligent or merely reasonable tactical decisions present[] a question of fact that [can]not be resolved on summary judgment." Rubens, 527 F.3d at 254 (quoting Rubens v. Mason, 387 F.3d 183, 190 (2d Cir. 2004)). In the instant case, the Court must engage in its own fact-specific analysis to determine whether there is a disputed issue of fact as to whether Dollinger's conduct was negligent or proximately caused any damages to Stonewell. See Rubens, 527 F.3d at 255; Wester, 757 N.Y.S. 2d at 501.

The Court finds that Dollinger's decision to notify the court in the Southern District of New York of the status [*20] of the Florida proceedings and to request an interim stay pending decision on the first "innocent owner" petition in Florida satisfies the basic standards of legal practice. It is undisputed that the Florida and New York courts both had jurisdiction over the issue of whether Stonewell was a bona fide purchaser of the Center Point Mall property, a legal matter that would essentially determine the validity of Stonewell's title. See United States v. Weiss, 467 F.3d 1300, 1307 (11th Cir. 2006) (holding that the Florida district court had jurisdiction over the criminal forfeiture proceeding pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231, while the New York district court had diversity jurisdiction over the Williams action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332).

Given the highly complex and substantively overlapping legal proceedings touching upon the validity of Stonewell's purported title to the Center Point Mall property at the time, there was no clearly superior legal strategy for Stonewell. It was reasonable for Dollinger to inform the Williams court about the Florida proceedings and to seek an interim stay in the Southern District of New York. The Williams court itself agreed with Dollinger's assessment of the [*21] situation in granting the interim stay. The record does not indicate that Dollinger's decision to give priority to the litigation in the Florida district court by filing the "innocent owner" petition there, and to seek the interim stay of the Williams action, constituted anything less than competent legal representation under difficult circumstances. Where a claim of legal malpractice is based upon a plaintiff's displeasure, developed only with the benefit of hindsight, regarding a defendant-attorney's selection of one among several reasonable strategic options, summary judgment should be granted in defendant's favor. See Rosner, 481 N.E. 2d at 554; Bernstein, 554 N.Y.S. 2d at 490."

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on January 29, 2010 (boomark / email).