New York Attorney Malpractice Blog: Legal Malpractice

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Malpractice Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Legal Malpractice

New York Attorney Malpractice Blog

Legal Malpractice Attorney & Lawyer
By Andrew Bluestone

Post Frequency: 9.9/day

Last Entry: May 23, 2013 at 05:56:43

Golly ! It Wasn't Me!

Posted on May 23, 2013
Plaintiff seems to be ascendant at this point in the case, but proof of a 19 year old trip and fall may be difficult in the extreme. A trial will ensue, after plaintiff's rare successful motion for partial summary judgment was granted in Cox v. McKernan...

Three Different Ways to Lose a Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on May 22, 2013
We wince to see cases lost on procedural grounds, much less legal malpractice cases. Here, in Northern Source, LLC v Kousouros 2013 NY Slip Op 03607 Decided on May 21, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department it seems that plaintiff failed to file a note of issue after a written demand, failed to respond to a motion to dismiss after the note of issue date passed, and then waited too long to move to vacate a judgment...

Where is the Line, and When was it Crossed?

Posted on May 21, 2013
How far may an attorney go when dealing with a client before the line is crossed and extreme emotional distress may be charged? It almost never happens, but In Blumencranz v Botter 2012 NY Slip Op 32089(U) Sup Ct, Nassau County Docket Number: 15489/11 Judge: Joel K...

Starting the Case and Legal Malpractice

Posted on May 20, 2013
Commencement of a new case and the service of process are anachronistic to New York, and provide a wealth of potential problems for the experienced practitioner. Imagine how confusing it is to the pro-se plaintiff. In any event, were one to query a group of experienced attorneys, we predict that a shockingly large number would have trouble correctly explaining CPLR 306-b...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Raced Based Case Analysis in Legal Malpractice

Posted on May 17, 2013
Courts are ready to consider dismissal of legal malpractice cases, especially when the motion for dismissal is predicated on the "but for" portion of the legal malpractice formula. Put another way, even on thinly produced evidence, and before there is any discovery, courts are willing and able to determine whether plaintiff could have succeeded in the underlying case, even though the defendant attorney has not been deposed, and has not been required to exchange documents...

A Puzzling Decision in Legal Malpractice

Posted on May 16, 2013
As the economic times turn around, we are still seeing the results of the mortgage bubble. in Ferreira v Citiwide Real Estate & Mgt. Co. 2013 NY Slip Op 50745(U) Decided on May 8, 2013 Supreme Court, Queens County Kitzes, J...

Sometimes It's Just Too Late to Start That Case

Posted on May 15, 2013
Plaintiff's mother brought a personal injury case against the City of New York for plaintiff from an injury of December 20, 2002. She retained defendant attorneys to represent her. She discharged the attorneys via a "Consent to Change Attorneys" in August , 2006...

It's a Three Year Statute of Limitation, No Matter What You Call It

Posted on May 14, 2013
Some years ago the Legislature overruled the Court of Appeals, and passed CPLR 214(6). That statute was interpreted to say that all claims against an attorney (some other professionals) were subject to a 3 year statute, whether the claim was made in negligence or contract...

Failures to Appear and Legal Malpractice

Posted on May 10, 2013
Reading the background information or the caption of some legal malpractice cases often reveals issues about the case itself. In Stuart v Robert L. Folks & Assoc., LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 03319 Decided on May 8, 2013 Appellate Division, Second Department , we saw that the defense counsel's name was all alone in the appearance section of the appeal...

What The Plaintiff Could Not Prove in this Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on May 09, 2013
While the decision inZaidman v Marcel Weisman, LLC 2013 NY Slip Op 03323 Decided on May 8, 2013 Appellate Division, Second Department does not specifically set forth what Plaintiff could not prove, we believe it would have been "notice" of a defective condition, and lack of proof (in the alternative) of creation of the dangerous condition...

Carrier Now on the Hook in a Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on May 07, 2013
Legal Malpractice insurance companies have two big exclusions. One is late notice of a claim and the other is acts outside the policy coverage. Late notice is a constant danger to the insured. Carriers take the position that as soon as the attorney knows there has been a mistake he is obligated to tell the carrier...

An Early and Unsuccessful Motion for Summary Judgment in a Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on May 06, 2013
We believe the legal malpractice case based upon an unsuccessful medical malpractice case is among the most difficult cases of any to litigate. The practitioner must understand medical malpractice as well as legal malpractice, an in Vitale v Meiselman 2013 NY Slip Op 30910(U) April 25, 2013 Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 108969/12 Judge: Eileen A...

Are Limitation of Damages Clauses OK?

Posted on May 03, 2013
Yes, they are, and Soja v Keystone Trozze, LLC 2013 NY Slip Op 03147 Decided on May 2, 2013 Appellate Division, Third Department is an example of their application. In this professional malpractice (architects/house designers) plaintiff alleges that they built the house in violation of FEMA / flood elevation principals...

A Federal Court Decision on New York Legal Malpractice Law

Posted on May 02, 2013
ENGLAND and MIDWEST GEMS, INC., -against- . FELDMAN and FELDMAN LAW GROUP, Defendants.11 Civ. 1396 (CM) UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK; 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36382; , is as good a primer in the general and substantive laws of legal malpractice as one might read...

Direct and Derivative Claims in Malpractice

Posted on May 01, 2013
Standing in legal malpractice cases is determined by the question of privity. Privity comes in several flavors. One is whether there is a contract between client and attorney, written, oral, or implied. If there is a contract, (even if the contract is implied from the factual representation which takes place), then that particular question of privity is answered...

Mass Mailings and Legal Malpractice

Posted on April 30, 2013
This case is really a fight amongst insurance companies, but it highlights an interesting source of legal malpractice cases: the referral. While at first blush it might seem unreasonable for client to hold attorney responsible for merely giving a name to them to speak to, in American Guar...

Are There Fees Due, and Was There Legal Malpractice?

Posted on April 26, 2013
One of the more interesting phenomena is the transition of claims into findings as a case goes to trial. What were formerly "strong" claims, now are final findings of fact. In Krausz v Kaufman 2013 NY Slip Op 30803(U) April 9, 2013 Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 104174/2008 Judge Debra A...

Willkie Farr and Legal Malpractice

Posted on April 26, 2013
Today's New York Law Journal, in an article by Christine Simmons reports that a legal malpractice case against Willkie Farr & Gallagher has been dismissed. "His complaint alleged that Willkie lawyers Marc Abrams and Matthew Feldman made "full-throated warnings" that Lichtenstein risked drastic personal exposure if he did not authorize a bankruptcy filing...

Legal Malpractice at a Trial

Posted on April 25, 2013
Is it possible to prove legal malpractice at a trial which goes to the jury? While an argument can be made that the attorney failed to call a particular witness, or failed to offer a particular piece of evidence, the countervailing argument will be that an attorney may choose among several different reasonable trial strategies, and if the case went all the way to the jury, regardless of its outcome, then attorney competence is demonstrated...

TMI in a Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on April 24, 2013
As cases become problems, or as basic problems become more prominent in litigation cases, one offshoot is that litigants take it into their own hands to try to remedy the situation. Whylie v Pager 2013 NY Slip Op 50601(U) Decided on April 18, 2013 Supreme Court, Kings County Schack, J...

1st Amendment Rights and Legal Malpractice

Posted on April 23, 2013
As the Appellate Division plows through the "what would have been the outcome" analysis of Ruotolo v Mussman & Northey 2013 NY Slip Op 02678 Decided on April 18, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department , we see the in depth factual and hypothetical work that's done in a legal malpractice case...

Injury Not Serious Enough for Legal Malpractice

Posted on April 22, 2013
Frequently, clients discern mistakes make in their cases, and wish to start a legal malpractice case. Unfortunately, departure from good practice is but one of the four elements of legal malpractice. The merit of most legal malpractice cases is determined by analysis of the middle two points...

Legal Malpractice and the Judgment Doctrine

Posted on April 19, 2013
Is it that Plaintiff could not articulate a reason why Defendant made a mistake that caused him damage? Is it that the Appellate Division just didn't like the case and agreed that it should be dismissed? Did the attorneys make a subjectively and objectively reasonable choice of strategy that just didn't work? We'll never know...

The Collateral Estoppel Trap in Legal Malpractice -Workers' Compensation Model

Posted on April 18, 2013
A basic rule of legal malpractice is that an attorney may not be granted a fee by a court or tribunal if there is legal malpractice present. Since an attorney may not obtain a fee if there has been legal malpractice, it follows, ipso facto, that if a court or a tribunal grants a fee to an attorney, then there can have been no legal malpractice...

Insurance Company Claims Malpractice Against Its Attorney

Posted on April 17, 2013
In this subrogation case, an insurance company has successfully pleaded fraud and legal malpractice. The insurance company plaintiff proceeded in the subrogation and alleged that legal malpractice was committed in failing to pursue a default judgment...

Settlement, Effective Compulsion, and the Underlying Proofs in Legal Malpractice

Posted on April 16, 2013
If one reads enough legal malpractice cases, there are interesting overlaps. One such overlap, with surprising results came up today. in Angeles v Aronsky 2013 NY Slip Op 02454 Decided on April 11, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department we see the following: "For a claim for legal malpractice to be successful, "a plaintiff must establish both that the defendant attorney failed to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession which results in actual damages to a plaintiff and that the plaintiff would have succeeded on the merits of the underlying action but for' the attorney's negligence" (AmBase Corp...

Limited Retainer or General; Legal Malpractice or Not

Posted on April 15, 2013
Representation of clients may be limited or general. An attorney-client relationship is considered to be general unless it is specifically limited by a retainer agreement. That retainer agreement had best be very specific, and it should set the limits quite clearly...

Plaintiff's Legal Malpractice Claims are Unavailing and are Dismissed

Posted on April 12, 2013
Hearing that your legal malpractice case is "unavailing" is terrifying. Nevertheless, this case was dismissed, appealed, reversed, remanded, and immediately dismissed again, this time on summary judgment. Garnett v Fox, Horan & Camerini, LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 30703(U) April 5, 2013 Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 114079/2008 Judge: Cynthia S...

Speculative Contentions and Legal Malpractice

Posted on April 11, 2013
Legal malpractice plaintiffs argue that defendant attorney handled the case badly, and then go on to say that if the attorney had done "x", there would have been a better or different outcome. Defendant argues that this is all "speculation...

The Long Long Saga of Collectibility and Linderman

Posted on April 10, 2013
One of the cornerstones of legal malpractice law is that any hypothetical judgment that plaintiff should have received must have been collectible. If defendant had filed a bankruptcy petition, or there was no insurance and no assets, then any hypothetical judgment that the attorneys did not obtain would not have been collectible, hence, there are no actual and ascertainable damages in the legal malpractice...

Related Law Bulletins

$16 Million Jury Award for Heart Attack Death Among Largest Medical Malpractice Verdicts in Connecticut
October 3, 2007 issue of Newsday reports: "BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A S...

Medical Malpractice: Your Case Is On The Trial Calendar-Can Defense Lawyers Talk to Your Doctor?
Your New York attorney has notified the Court that your case is re...

Should I Sue? Examining the Complex Question and the Role Apologies Play in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
WBUR examines the medical apologies issue: On WBUR, a Boston NPR s...

Medical Malpractice - Your Child's Been Diagnosed With Brain Damage and Cerebral Palsy
You're in labor. Your due date is tomorrow. Your contractions are ...

Massachusetts: Medical Malpractice Statute of Repose Doesn't Apply to Fraud Claim
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports that a lawsuit against a doct...