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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

California Legal Malpractice and Mama Cass

Posted on January 11, 2011
We write that legal malpractice issues are everywhere, and might surface in any setting. Here is a story from the National Law Journal about a 35 year old missing will of Mama Cass, and whether the attorneys who had it in their files were negligent in not producing it back when it counted...

The Demise of a Law Firm and the Aftermath

Posted on January 10, 2011
Plaintiff says that this is not a legal malpractice case, but it is the death knell of a well known and long lived law firm in New York City. 150 Broadway N.Y. Assoc., L.P. v Shandell ;2011 NY Slip Op 30009(U); January 3, 2011; Supreme Court, New York County; Docket Number: 601950/09; Judge: Judith J...

Collectibility in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 07, 2011
There are conflicting rules in the 4 departments of New York. In legal malpractice, it is plaintiff's obligation to demonstrate that a hypothetical judgment could be collected in a legal malpractice case in the 2d, 3d and 4th departments. In the First Department, it is an affirmitive defense for defendant to prove...

An Extraordinary Legal Malpractice Cast of Attorneys

Posted on January 06, 2011
The Curtis law firm bills itself as "the only law firm[s] in the United States" to concentrate their practice on "representing clients injured by attorneys." In this US District Court case we see legal malpractice attorneys suing legal malpractice attorneys under a very unconventional theory of law...

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Privilege, Wavier and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 05, 2011
Leviton Manufacturing is a huge manufacturer of electrical and electronic items, and regularly patents new inventions. Here, in LEVITON MFG. CO., INC., -against- GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP, et al.,09 Civ. 8083 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, 2010 U...

Legal Malpractice Decision Upheld On Appeal

Posted on January 04, 2011
Egnotovich v. Katten Muchin Zavis & Roseman LLP, 604101/06 , Decided January 23, 2008 ,Justice Bernard J. Fried NEW YORK COUNTY ,Supreme Court Plaintiffs joined a vacation club in which they each deposited $ 400,000, and the group was to purchase or lease apartments or houses in prime vacatiion spots...

Big Real Estate Projects and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 03, 2011
The economy stalls, the stock market falls, big investment schemes become exposed, and huge real estate projects run into problems. This weekend'sNY Times discussed how big name real estate players can run into problems, but it is the investors who lose the money...

The Extraordinary and Rare Criminal Defense Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on December 31, 2010
Criminal defense legal malpractice cases are so rare that the 4th Department found but a single case to discuss in the decision in Dombrowski v Bulson ;2010 NY Slip Op 09625 ; Decided on December 30, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Fourth Department ...

The "French Person" Defense and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 30, 2010
In an otherwise garden or varietal attorney fee dispute with a legal malpractice defense, we ran across the "French Person" defense to attorney fees for the first time. Justice Gische, in Singer v Adler ;2010 NY Slip Op 33439(U); December 13, 2010; Sup Ct, NY County gave it short shrift...

Fatal Mistakes in a Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on December 29, 2010
Irony has little place in litigation, yet it abounds. In Perez-Faringer v Heilman ; 2010 NY Slip Op 09238 ; Decided on December 14, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Second Department plaintiff, pro-se in the action below, and in the appeal, has had the action dismissed, for the mere and easily avoidable failure to serve a complaint after demand...

A Complicated Commercial-Matrimonial Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on December 28, 2010
While the guiding principals are clear and unambiguous, the facts and calculations underlying this matrimonial legal malpractice case are daunting. Holding companies, general partners, intra-company transfers, straw-men and the like make the financial analysis difficult...

Legal Malpractice at the Country Club

Posted on December 27, 2010
This holiday week, swept with snow and high winds, brings a case which re-emphasizes our meme that legal malpractice may show up anywhere attorneys are at work. Here in Country Club Partners, LLC v Goldman ; 2010 NY Slip Op 09309 ; Decided on December 16, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Third Department we see an allegation of legal malpractice (not addressed here) and of breach of fiduciary duty in the real estate transactions surrounding a country club transaction...

Legal Malpractice as a Defensive Reflex

Posted on December 23, 2010
Legal malpractice litigation is often viewed with a gimlet eye. This is a 50's expression meaning a sharp or knowing look. Courts often believe that legal malpractice counterclaims are merely a method of trying not to pay legal fees. As has been observed elsewhere, attorney fees are dear to the heart of attorneys...

Equitable Estoppel and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 22, 2010
Equitable Estoppel is a principal which comes into play most often when a case is not commenced within the statute of limitations. The theory is that plaintiff was lulled into not starting the case by a wrongful act of defendant. Considering that blown statutes of limitations are one well recognized basis for legal malpractice cases, the two concepts are suitably intertwined...

Who is to Blame in this Legal Malpractice Case?

Posted on December 21, 2010
It appears that one of two law firms is to blame for plaintiff's medical malpractice fiasco. Which is it? InLopresti v Bamundo, Zwal & Schermerhorn, LLP, ;2010 NY Slip Op 33436(U); December 14, 2010; Judge: Martin Shulman we see a familiar problem...

Ice and Snow Cases with Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 20, 2010
We're sure that the Appellate Division did not plan this, but shortly after the first snow of the season, and in the middle of a span of days each with temperatures less than 25 degrees, we read the following case with interest. In Walker v Glotzer ; 2010 NY Slip Op 09126 ; Decided on December 7, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Second Department we see a slip on snow and ice case which as admittedly lost on the first go-around on a blown statute of limitations...

Mistakes Happen to Everyone in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 17, 2010
Board of Mgrs. of the Bay Club v Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Schwartz & Nahins, P.C. ; 2010 NY Slip Op 52129(U) ; Decided on December 13, 2010 ; Supreme Court, Queens County ; Markey, J. is a legal malpractice case against one of the best known and best regarded landlord law firms in NY...

Premature Distribution and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 16, 2010
Proving the point that attorneys should not dabble in areas of the law unfamiliar them, we learned of the "7 month Rule" in estate and trust work. The rule is that an executor is not liable for good faith distribution of estate proceeds if the distribution takes place at least 7 months after the death...

Posted on December 15, 2010
Bernardi v Spyratos ; 2010 NY Slip Op 09097 ;Decided on December 7, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Second Department is the story of two neighbors who have locked horns over a waterfront property. There are issues of encroachment, adverse possession, hidden water damage, legal malpractice and failures to take a survey at or before closing...

Work-Product and Legal Malpractice Discovery

Posted on December 14, 2010
We continue to the second issue raised in Leviton Mfg. Co., Inc., v. Greenberg Traurig LLP, et al., , 09 Civ. 8083 (GBD) (THK); U.S. District Court, Southern District illustrates theprincipals of "at issue" attorney-client privilege and " work-product" discovery...

"At issue" and "Work Product" in Legal Malpractice Litigation

Posted on December 13, 2010
Discovery in legal malpractice litigation often turn around the "but for" portion of the case. The question of why was the underlying case ultimately lost, why didn't plaintiff succeed with successor counsel and why are we responsible for this bad outcome, are often heard, and usually must be dealt with...

It's Always the Case Within a Case in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 10, 2010
Legal malpractice proofs have 4 elements. They are Departure, Proximity, "But for" and Ascertainable damages. The sad truth is that in almost every human endeavor, one may find departures. In a case that goes to trial, there are arguably many departures...

Conclusory Damages in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 09, 2010
Yesterday, we looked at Escape Airports (USA), Inc. v Kent, Beatty & Gordon, LLP 2010 NY Slip Op 08981 ; Decided on December 7, 2010 ; Appellate Division, First Department in which Justice Kornreich was affirmed across the board...

Relation-Back and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 07, 2010
The case of Carl v. Cohen, Supreme Court, New York County, Justice Edmead 2009 NY Slip OP 30806(U), April 15, 2009 illustrates two distinct principals. The first is privilege and at issue communications and the second principal is relation-back and the statute of limitations...

Charging Liens and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 06, 2010
Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP v Rose; 2010 NY Slip Op 33288(U); November 23, 2010 Sup Ct, NY County; Judge: Joan A. Madden is a decision which outlines the law of charging liens and legal malpractice. In this particular case, attorneys were representing plaintiff in a series of interrlated but separate litigations, all revolving around the resolution of who owns a family business, and who has to pay whom to get control of that business...

Workers' Compensation Liens and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 03, 2010
The law and its rules changes as a matter of geography. A few miles to the south, rules are completely different. As an example, in NY a workers' compensation carrier may recovery its payments to plaintiff after plaintiff successfullly sues a third-party...

Further Refinements in Judiciary Law 487 and Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 02, 2010
Judiciary Law 487 may be the oldest statute in American (and in Anglo-American) jurisprudence. it dates from the first Statute of Westminster, adopted in England in 1275. Even almost 800 years later refinements continue to be made. in Barrows v Alexander 2010 NY Slip Op 08506 ; Decided on November 19, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Fourth Department we see plaintiff attempting to apply Judiciary Law 487 against at attorney, but not one who was working as an attorney at the time...

A Puzzle in Legal Malpractice

Posted on December 01, 2010
We will be the first to say that we simply do not understand this Second Department decision. Kennedy v H. Bruce Fischer, Esq., P.C. ;2010 NY Slip Op 08709 ;Decided on November 23, 2010 Appellate Division, Second Department has the following two ideas that we cannot put together and harmonize: Plaintiff was able to obtain a $ 1...

The Borrowing Statute and Legal Malpractice

Posted on November 30, 2010
"It might seem unjust, or even perverse, for a pro se plaintiff to lose just because he happened to sue in his home state, instead of where he believes the injury occurred, and where an attorney probably would have recommended he sue. But the Court's job is to apply applicable statutes fairly and impartially...

A Messy Criminal Conviction-Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on November 29, 2010
Plaintiff is arrested and retains attorneys to represent him. Plaintiff bails himself out and uses the bail receipt to pay the attorneys. At issue here is whether he endorsed the bail receipt over to the attorneys to cover a minimum fee, and whether pleading guilty is a "'disposition" or whether pleading guilty and being sentenced is necessary...

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