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Legal Malpractice

New York Attorney Malpractice Blog

Legal Malpractice Attorney & Lawyer
By Andrew Bluestone

Post Frequency: 9.8/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 06:03:18

Contempt and Legal Malpractice in Matrimonial Law

Posted on December 10, 2009
Reading between the lines in Minkow v. Sanders, plaintiff was a difficult client. To begin, he was her third attorney. As a digression, defense attorneys in legal malpractice cases often tee off with the assertion that their client is the "third" or "fourth" attorney that plaintiff has had, and boot strap from that to the assertion that only a despicable person has more than one attorney...

2 Sides of the Coin in a Fee-Malpractice Case

Posted on December 09, 2009
What do the parties really think in an attorney - fee dispute which totals in the $6 million range. Most attorney fee disputes are less than $50,000, In NY that qualifies for the court monitored Attorney-Fee dispute program Here, in a startling NYLJ article Nate Raymond writes about the Debevoise & Plimpton cases against Candlewood Timber Group LLC...

Is is Legal Malpractice to Try Too Hard for the Client?

Posted on December 08, 2009
There are lawyers who try cases to the limit and there are lawyers who try too hard. This morning we were reading a NY Times article about the "capital panel.' These are attorneys who will eventually represent the Guantanimo defendants at their Federal terrorism trials...

The American Board of Professional Liability Attonrneys

Posted on December 06, 2009
We are proud to report that Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been admitted as a Diplomate to the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys. Andrew Lavoott Bluestone is the author and publisher of the New York Attorney Malpractice Blog The American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys (ABPLA) is the only organization accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) to certify attorneys in the areas of medical malpractice and legal malpractice...

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When May a Receiver Sue for Legal Malpractice?

Posted on December 04, 2009
It's a complex question, but in troubled financial times, legal malpractice law suits become more visible and valuable. Receivers, Trustees in Bankruptcy, and other fiduciary appointees all eye and measure pockets in an ongoing attempt to broaden and increase the fisc...

Account Stated Meets Legal Malpractice and a Change in the Rules

Posted on December 03, 2009
The rules concerning fee-sharing, and the precision of detail which must be given to a client. have changed. Now, one must be precise in the percentages between attorneys, lest a violation of the rule lead to the Court denying attorney fees at a later stage of the proceedings...

Judiciary Law 487 Claims Survives Even after Litigation Over

Posted on December 02, 2009
Judiciary Law 487 may be the oldest statute in the English-American Law world. It dates from 1275, just years after the Magna Carta, Once in a while we see a reference to Marbury v. Madison, 5 US (1 Cranch) 137 (1803) and think that perhaps this a law student or a new lawyer flexing some muscle...

Subsequent Attorneys, Privilege and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 01, 2009
Plaintiff sells meat, made loans to a restaurant and its owner. It was partially repaid, over many years by the restaurant, which added a payment to the meat bills. All things end, and the owner of the meat company died; then the restaurant went under...

Promissory Notes and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 30, 2009
Plaintiff retains attorney to handle promissory note case, and a default judgment is obtained. Defendant owns real property, yet no lis pendens is filed. Is this legal malpractice? In Ali v Fink 2009 NY Slip Op 08766 ;Decided on November 24, 2009 ; Appellate Division, Second Department we see the following: "Several months later, the defendant commenced a second action on the plaintiff's behalf, seeking to set aside a transfer of real property which the debtor had allegedly made to impede the plaintiff's ability to recover under the promissory notes (hereinafter the fraudulent conveyance action)...

Divorce, Criminal Charges and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 25, 2009
When do divorce, crime and legal malpractice intertwine? In this case, at the intersection of divorce and fighting ex's In short, plaintiff had a child with GF, and they were separating, and at the same time arguing over custody and support...

Can a Client be too Poor for Legal Malpractice?

Posted on November 24, 2009
The decision doesn't tell us in what capacity the attorneys represented the client, but they are now in suit over legal fees, with a legal malpractice counterclaim. As we read this case, we wondered whether the time and effort was worth it. Will there ever be a collection of fees? in Bender, Jenson & Silverstein, LLP v Walter ; 2009 NY Slip Op 08572 ;Decided on November 17, 2009 ;Appellate Division, Second Department the attorney is seeking fees...

A Garden or Varietal Version of Fee Claim and Legal Malpractice Counterclaim

Posted on November 23, 2009
Almost as popular as attorney fee cases are defenses of legal malpractice. Here, in Sieratzki v Sei Global, Inc., NY Slip Op 32656(u), all the basics are laid out. Attorney represents client for a longish period of time, and substitutes into an Arbitration entitled HL Group Partners, LLC v...

Its Not Legal Malpractice, but Breach of Fiduciary Duty When Defendant is Not Even an Attorney

Posted on November 20, 2009
It does not happen often, but non-lawyers sometimes come to represent clients. An impostor? A simple clerical mistake? We don't know how it happened in this case, but in Natural Organics Inc. v Anderson Kill & Olick, P.C. ;2009 NY Slip Op 08472 ;Decided on November 17, 2009 ;Appellate Division, First Department "Plaintiff alleged that it retained defendant law firm to bring an action against an insurance company...

Legal Malpractice Fallout from the Modeling Industry

Posted on November 19, 2009
Monique Pillard, president of Elite Models, is the plaintiff in this legal malpractice case, She was a defendant in a highly significant employment discrimination case revolving around an asthmatic worker who was fired, and the harassment and smoking that took place all around her...

Termination, Legal Malpractice and Quantum Meruit

Posted on November 18, 2009
There are some basic rules in legal malpractice litigation about fees. One of these rules is that an attorney may be terminated at any time by the client, either for cause or without cause. A corollary rule is that when an attorney is terminated for cause, he is due no compensation...

Old and New Law in Attorney Fee Disputes

Posted on November 17, 2009
New York traveled through a sea change in its attorney disciplinary and ethical rules when the new rules were enacted in April. Prior to the change, DR 2-107 did not require that a client be notified of the "percentage split" of fees between multiple attorneys working on a case; only the fact of multiple attorneys and fee sharing was required...

Divorce Allocutions and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 16, 2009
Legal malpractice plaintiffs who are suing for representation in a divorce action are routinely placed between a rock and a hard place, when asked at the settlement of their divorce action whether they are satisfied with attorney's representation. They are told to say 'yes" and often do, simply to end the torture...

Assignment of a Legal Malpractice Claim in the 2d Circuit

Posted on November 13, 2009
Corporate clients assign causes of action between themselves on a fairly regular basis. Often, for purely economic reasons, in mergers, and in other corporate maneuverings, a cause of action will become one of many assets to be exchanged. Here, in NEW FALLS CORP...

Liens, Settlements and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 12, 2009
Yesterday we discussed medical treatment liens and when an attorney might become liable to pay them, even though the attorney did not deduct from the settlement proceeds when making the distribution. Today, Joel Stashenko in the NYLJ reports passage of a bill to eliminate "double dipping" by public employees in the disability area...

A Primer on Attorney Fees and Counterclaims

Posted on September 30, 2009
Justice Judith Gische of Supreme Court, New York County presents a primer on attorney fee litigation and the disposition of counterclaims for legal malpractice in Hurley v. Bulah Church of God in Christ Jesus, Inc. In this case the Church had gone through some hard times...

A Series of quasi-Legal Malpractice Cases in the US Supreme Court

Posted on September 29, 2009
Today's NYLJ features an article by Marcia Coyle on a series of cases coming up before the US Supreme Court. Of the 6 cases to be heard [almost triple the usual number] at least four are legal malpractice scenario: Wood v. Allen is a death penalty case in Alabama in which a newly admitted attorney failed to investigate mental deficiency of his client in the death penalty phase...

Patents, Sanctions and Legal Malpractice

Posted on September 25, 2009
We end this week with a look at a huge legal malpractice action just brought against Greenberg Traurig LLP, based upon patent work, and a more than $1 million judgment entered against their client. Widely reported yesterday, the complaint was set forth in the NYLJ...

What is a Borrowing Statute and How Does it Affect Legal Malpractice?

Posted on September 24, 2009
Here is how a borrowing statute affects litigation and why a Pennsylvania statute of limitations applies to New York litigation. CPLR 202 requires that when a nonresident sues on a cause of action accruing outside New York, CPLR 202 requires the cause of action to be timely under the limitations periods of both New York and the jurisdiction where the cause of action accrued...

Mixed Result in Landlord-tenant Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on September 23, 2009
Landlord hires big-time Landlord-Tenant attorneys in New York City, and expect that the attorneys are in fact bringing a series of eviction proceedings. This case alleges that they did not, yet charged fees, and misled the client. What is a client to do? In this instance they sued for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, breach of contract, etc...

A Particularly Shocking Judiciary Law 487 and Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on September 22, 2009
Were one to read each of the 150+ legal malpractice cases decisions filed each year, one would see a wide range of attorney-client problems. Some are frivolous and some very serious. This case, DAVID GOLDSTEIN, Plaintiffs, - against - ALLEN S...

Whose Case is It in Legal Malpractice and Bankruptcy ?

Posted on September 21, 2009
When one files a petition in bankruptcy, ownership of assets is upended. Some if not all assets of the debtor become part of the estate, and will be used to pay creditors. A current cause of action in legal malpractice, even if not reduced to a law suit is one such asset...

Judiciary Law 487 Cases Thrive This Year in Legal Malpractice Arena

Posted on September 18, 2009
Since the Court of Appeals decided Amalfitano v. Rosenberg we have seen an upswing in reported successful Judiciary Law 487 cases. Here in Moormann v Hoerger ;2009 NY Slip Op 06518 ;Decided on September 15, 2009 ;Appellate Division, Second Department plaintiff loses legal malpractice, but avoids summary judgment on the Judiciary Law cause of action...

Overlapping Fraud and Malpractice Claims in Legal Malpractice

Posted on September 17, 2009
In Tatum v. Oberg; UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT;2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82208;September 3, 2009 we see a spirited discussion of the overlap between fraud claims and negligence, as well as a discussion of the overlap between breach of contact claims and negligence...

Opposing a Motion for Summary Judgment by Plaintiff in a Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on September 16, 2009
In Felt v. Van Alstyne we see an interesting real estate-legal malpractice case, one which is, unfortunately, no so uncommon. Plaintiff owns 51 acres of property in Greene County and wants to sell a portion, 6.1 acres. The balance of 45 acres or so, which is unimproved, is to be sub-divided and kept...

New Lawyer

Posted on September 16, 2009
http://www.newlawyer.com

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