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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

Happy New Years to All

Posted on December 31, 2008
Thank you for reading our commentary this year. We wish a wonderful holiday season to all. We'll be returning on January 2, 2009.

Closely Held Corporations, Retainers and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 30, 2008
A sole shareholder of a closely held corporation hires an attorney. The retainer agreement does not always reflect that the attorney is representing both the individual and the corporation, and at the begining it probably means little. After a progression into a legal malpractice case it may well take on epic porportions...

Are Attorney Fees Recoverable in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 29, 2008
The answer to this question is a qualified yes. Attorney fees, which are unearned by virtue of the malpractice, or other fees which are spent to rectify the situation may be collected. Here is a case from the Third Deparment on the issue. LEACH Appellant, v...

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2008
We want to take this occasion to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Supervision of Partners and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 24, 2008
This holiday season has been one long story about bad economic news, swindles, bad investments, and hedge funds. One meme of this blog has been that legal malpractice litigation is ubiquitous, and intertwined with all aspects of our world. This is simply a reflection of the integration of law and lawyers in all aspects of our social and economic lives...

Judiciary Law 487 Claim Survives in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 16, 2008
The NYLJ reports a Judiciary Law 487 case today in which the claim survives. Empire Purveyors, Inc. v. Brief Justice & Kleinman, [subscription necessary] which was written by Justice Solomon in Supreme Court, New York County, holds that Judiciary Law 487 is applicable in both of its applications...

Legal Malpractice is a Two Step Discipline

Posted on December 15, 2008
Because legal malpractice is always a "case within a case" it is a two step process. The very nature of the two step process gives rise to defendant's ability to brag over winning either of the two legs. An example is Orick's statement that they were vindicated, even after it was proven that the attorney violated his fiduciary duty...

The World Wide Web of Celebrity Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 12, 2008
Two huge names in the celebrity Blogosphere, Perez Hilton and Samantha Ronson along with Lindsay Lohan join together with lesser known attorney Martin Garbus to again demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of legal malpractice. We are betting that most readers will know the facts of this case...

Attorney Client Privilege and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 11, 2008
An attorney must carefully and assiduously guard his client's confidences, secrets and communications with the attorney. This remains true until the attorney has to defend himself. Must this defense be to criminal charges, or to ethical charges only? The answer is set forth in a recently decided case in the First Department...

From the Frying Pan into the Fire in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 10, 2008
A tip of the blogging hat to Shareholder Oppression Blog which reports this Texas case in which business is looking for investors and plaintiff comes along. His investment is somewhat complicated, and the company's attorney suggests some changes...

Legal Malpractice in Filing Too Early?

Posted on December 09, 2008
Typically, legal malpractice follows filing too late; here there may be legal malpractice in filing too early. This situation is more common than one might imagine, and in the current economic circumstances, may re-occur needlessly. The Southeast Texas Record reports the facts of a case similar to ones we have seen...

Bare Knuckle Politics and Legal Malpractice in New Jersey

Posted on December 08, 2008
Town buys property previously owned by bus company. They plan to remediate the property, and turn it into a park. Town's Attorney is Democratic. Town board is Republican majority, soon to change after election. Result? Attorney is potentially a legal malpractice defendant, solely dependent on whether Republicans or Democrats have the majority...

Intransigence or Legal Malpractice?

Posted on December 05, 2008
Continuing in the turnabout tradition of legal malpractice defense, wherein the defendant attorney takes on the coloration of its previous adversary in order to defeat a "case within a case' is this matter: Lederer de Paris Fifth Ave., Inc. v Jordan & Hamburg, LLP ; 2008 NY Slip Op 09462 Decided on December 2, 2008 Appellate Division, First Department ...

A Very Complicated Real Estate Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on December 04, 2008
One of the problems in figuring out a legal malpractice case by reading an appellate decision, is that even when the court gives a detailed set of facts, thee are many connections either not apparent or missing. Here in Ito v. Suzuki, 2008 NY Slip Op 9437, Decided December 2, 2008, Appellate Division, 1st Department, the shenanigans of this real estate deal are dizzying...

Recusal, Political Donations and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 03, 2008
During the campaign season, news reports ouline the amounts of money individuals donate to candidates, and there are websites which track donations by name. Recently in West Virginia, a legal malpractice case involving the Massey Coal company there made news when the US Supreme Court decided to hear the question of whether campaign contributions required recusal of a State Supreme Court justice...

Plaintiff's Partial Success does not Rule out Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on December 02, 2008
Plaintiff claimed pay and benefits from the Board of Education. Apparently there is a two part process for such claims. The first thing to do is to request a hearing. Later, one may bring an Article 78 proceeding. In Leticia Abreu v Jose A...

Appellate Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 01, 2008
In STEPHEN F. BRUMMER, , v THE BARNES FIRM, P.C., CELLINO & BARNES, P.C., STEPHEN E. BARNES, ROSS M. CELLINO, AND RICHARD J. BARNES, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FOURTH DEPARTMENT;2008 NY Slip Op 8831; 2008 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8924 we see a discussion of legal malpractice cases centering on a failed appeal...

Referring Attorney May be Held in Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 28, 2008
Attorney A refers a case to Attorney B, and agree that they will share in a contingent fee between them. Ethical issues aside, may Attorney A, who has not committed malpractice nor taken an active role in the case, be held responsible for Attorney B's malpractice? Rosenstrauss v Jacobs & Jacobs ;2008 NY Slip Op 08472 ;Decided on November 5, 2008 Appellate Division, Second Department answers that question as follows: "Moreover, the argument of the defendants Markovits & Markovits and Robert L...

Las Vegas Showrooms and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 26, 2008
This case, reported by Noeleen Walder in the NY Law Journal is highly complicated, and represents the future of legal malpractice. Greenberg Traurig is accused of becoming involved, through its attorney Robert J. Ivanhoe, in a Los Vegas convention/showroom development, in a competitor's similar project all of which is tied up in a California arbitration and legal malpractice case...

Third-Party Practice and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 25, 2008
"Turnabout is fair play" This childhood aphorism describes the third-party practice in a newly reported case, 601 Realty Corp. v. Conway Farrell, Curtin & Kelly PC, NY Slip Op. 33076, from Supreme Court, Nassau County...

Legal Malpractice and the Criminal Plaintiff

Posted on November 24, 2008
Criminal Law practitioners enjoy a blanket immunity for legal malpractice not permitted to any other field of law. Briefly put, a convicted criminal defendant may not successfully sue his attorney unless he can demonstrate innocence or later exoneration...

Strange Bed-Fellows in Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 21, 2008
Demonstrating the ancient rubric, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" the case of Rosenstrauss v Women's Imaging Ctr. of Orange County ;2008 NY Slip Op 08473 ; Decided on November 5, 2008 Appellate Division, Second Department shows us how a procedural issue forces plaintiff to espouse the defense of the legal malpractice defendant attorneys, in order to save the legal malpractice case...

The "Sophisticated" Client in Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 20, 2008
There is no lack of irony in legal malpractice litigation. Because of the structure of the "case within a case" defendant attorney often takes on the defenses available in the underlying case. So, plaintiff's attorney sees defendant attorney loudly and heatedly making the very same arguments that were made in the underlying action with absolutely no cognitive dissonance...

Prior Knowledge and Legal Malpractice Insurance

Posted on November 19, 2008
Whether attorney for Plaintiff or for defendant, each practitioner in the Legal Malpractice field has either a professional or personal interest in legal malpractice insurance. No one, whether prosecuting or defending legal malpractice cases wants to lose or have coverage excluded, and attorneys do not want to have coverage lost for the defendants in a legal malpractice case...

Recovering Workers' Compensation Liens in Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 18, 2008
Worker is injured on the job by a paving machine. Worker collects WC benefits from his employment. Worker sues paving machine manufacturer in products liability, and his attorney blows the statute. Worker succeeds in legal malpractice...

Legal Malpractice Case against a Dead Attorney

Posted on November 17, 2008
Plaintiff sued his former criminal defense attorney because the attorney did not perfect an appeal. So far, so good. What followed shows how difficult litigation can be, and in how many ways a good case can go awry. Consider, for example, whether there could be a legal malpractice case against the attorney...

Why Weren't They Thinking About Legal Malpractice?

Posted on November 14, 2008
Judges retire or don't stand for re-election, and then look for a new job. That's expected and no one is surprised when they surface as a partner in biglaw, or in a prestigious local firm. This story borders on the extreme.Charles Toutant of the New Jersey Law Journal reports: "Lawyers who engaged a retiring judge in discussions about a future business relationship while he was ruling in one of their cases have been sued for damages -- specifically, the other party's attorney fees...

Attorney 1 Responsible for acts of Attorney 2 in Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 13, 2008
Yesterday we examined this case: Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division, Third Department on the issue of when an expert is necessary. Today, we look at how a referring attorney, [or a supervising attorney] may become responsible for the negligence of the referred attorney...

When is an Expert Necessary in Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 12, 2008
The short answer to the question of when an expert is necessary in legal malpractice is "most of the time." Here in this case, Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division, Third Department we see the slightly longer answer on a motion for summary judgment [same rule would obtain for trial]: "While plaintiff would ordinarily be required to submit an affidavit of an expert setting forth the applicable standard of care in order to obtain summary judgment in her favor (see Alvarez v Prospect Hosp...

Legal Malpractice Case over the End of the Relationship

Posted on November 11, 2008
We are continuing to discuss the Gotay case, 2008 NY Slip Op 08432. Defendants remain in the case on the basis that it was unclear that they intended to, or actually had ended their representation. CPLR 321 is the manner in which an attorney ends the relationship, absent a court order...

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