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New York Attorney Malpractice Blog 

Legal Malpractice Attorney & Lawyer
Post Frequency: 9.8/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 06:03:18 Recent Entries: 885
By Andrew Bluestone
Go to New York Attorney Malpractice Blog, find other Legal Malpractice blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Legal Malpractice Case Dismissed in Contractor's Case
Posted on May 30, 2008In this case. Gabrielli v Dobson & Pinci ,2008 NY Slip Op 04749 ,Decided on May 27, 2008, Appellate Division, First Department, two attorneys represented the plaintiff contractor in succession, which was unable to prosecute its case for contract damages...
Wiley Rein and Blackwater Legal Malpractice Case Ends
Posted on May 29, 2008Law.Com reports that the Wiley Rein legal malpractice case has been dismissed. This was a case with major players: "The Wiley team that defended Blackwater in the underlying case consisted of Fred Fielding, now White House counsel; Barbara Van Gelder, now a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Scott McCaleb, still a partner at Wiley; and Margaret Ryan, now a judge for the U...
Texas and Disclosure of Legal Malpractice Insurance
Posted on May 28, 2008This article from the Southeast Texas Record amplifies the current debate there over mandatory disclosure of legal malpractice coverage. "There's a movement in Austin to change this. Last week, a state Supreme Court task force voted down a measure to require Texas lawyers who don't carry malpractice insurance to tell potential clients beforehand...
"I would not have signed it" defeats Legal Malpractice Case
Posted on May 28, 2008A frequent defense in legal malpractice is that while a mistake has been made, plaintiff is not hury anyway. Here is one example of that defense in a New Jersey Case. THE MAKE UP BAR, Inc.Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. COOPER, LEVENSON, APRIL, NIEDELMAN & WAGENHEIM, P...
Judiciary Law 487 and Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 27, 2008This case illustrates how difficult it may be to prosecute a Judiciary law 487 case in a legal malpractice setting. Sara Kinberg, Plaintiff-Appellant, v Heidi Opinsky, Defendant-Respondent. SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT , 2008 NY Slip Op 4616Decided May 22, 2008...
Arbitration and Legal Malpractice Litigation
Posted on May 23, 2008An unrelated article in the NYLJ related a cycle in the franchising industry yesterday...from settlement by litigation, through resolution by arbitration, and then on to wide-scale mediation. Legal malpractice may well be following the same cycle...
A Lesson in Bankrutpcy Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 22, 2008Do you understand Chapter 11 Bankruptcy practice? Can you define "cram down" or "impaired class" or "non-recourse loans"? We can't, but this case is a primer in Chapter 11 practice and the legal malpractice which may arise in a case...
When is it So Bad that You Don't Need an Expert in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 22, 2008This case from New Jersey illustrates the border line between behavior that is so bad that an expert is not needed at trial to testify on whether there was a deviation, and behavior that is bad, but still requires an expert. The NJ court found in TARUTIS, v...
Iowa Legal Malpractice and a Recusal Motion
Posted on May 21, 2008The politicians are in Iowa, the primaries started there, and today we report on a legal malpractice and recusal case in Iowa. Here two different strands of problems for the legal malpractice plaintiff are twisted together. One of the strands concerns the judges comment about the legal malpractice plaintiff and defendant: "one is dishonest, and I had lunch with the other...
Do Texas Attorneys have Legal Malpractice Insurance, and Do Texans Care?
Posted on May 21, 2008This article from The Statesman.com discusses news about a special group of lawyers, appointed by the Texas Supreme Court who are to vote today. They are looking at " a proposal that could require lawyers to tell clients whether they have malpractice insurance...
Attorney Keeps Legal Malpractice Insurance Coverage
Posted on May 20, 2008Wiley Rein reports on a case in the Ninth Circuit, arising in Arizona concerning prior acts exclusions in legal malpractice coverage:"The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, applying Arizona law, has reversed a district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of a professional liability insurer whose policyholder failed to list its inadequate representation of former clients as a potential claim on its policy application...
Legal Mapractice Judgment Not Dischargeable in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 19, 2008In re MICHAEL ROY BRESSLER, Defendant. WILLIAM FORREST and SHAWN STEIBEL, Plaintiffs, v. MICHAEL ROY BRESSLER, Defendant. STEVEN STRUM, Plaintiff, v. MICHAEL ROY BRESSLERHere is a long SDNY Bankruptcy case discussing a series of legal malpractice proceedings, malicious behavior and non-discharageablity...
Venue Still Important in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 16, 2008In this pro-se v. pro-sen legal malpractice case between a pro-se plaintiff from Queens and a pro-se defendant from New Jersey, we see a discussion of the correct way to challenge venue. Kuzmin v. Nevsky, brought in New York County is moved to Queens:"The plaintiff commenced this action in the Supreme Court, New York County, to recover damages for legal malpractice...
Is it Legal Malpractice if you Don't Do the Work When you Don't Get Paid?
Posted on May 15, 2008Here is a "brief chambers opinion" from Judge Newman: Bennett, petitioner v. Mukasey, respondent ,U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, SECOND CIRCUIT. As you may guess, it was not Mukasey whose legal work was left unfinished. Bennett's attorney filed a petition, and then when the legal fees went unpaid, allowed it to be dismissed...
Excess Carriers and the Insured's Attorney in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 15, 2008Here is an Indiana Case in which the concept of equitable subrogation is attempted in a legal malpractice case. Here, insurer seeking equitable subrogation loses. In Queerey & Harrow LTD v. Transcontinental Ins. Co. two hurdles face the insurer: privity and policy...
Defense Attorney and Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 14, 2008Attorneys for insurance carriers are rarely the subject of a legal malpractice case...it is much more often plaintiff's attorney. The Poppe law firm blog reports this case of a car insurance defense attorney who goes to trial on the underlying auto accident without ever meeting with the client, and to make matters worse, admits liability without the client's consent...
Kentucky and Texas take on the Rule in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 14, 2008In New York legal malpractice litigation, the defendant attorney may not ask for a set off in the amount of the hypothetical contingent fee. That is, defendant attorney is sued for losing a personal injury action argues that the damages must be reduced by one-third, the amount plaintiff would have had to pay to an attorney, and which plaintiff will now be getting as a wind-fall...
A Truckfull of Marijuana and Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 13, 2008Plaintiff was driving a truckfull of marijuana when he was stopped and arrested. He says in the legal malpractice complaint that he spent less than an hour with his attorney prior to pleading guilty. He believes that this was legal malpractice, and the criminal trial [appellate ?] court agreed with him to a certain extent...
Sued Too Many Times for Legal Malpractice Insurance?
Posted on May 13, 2008Some law firms are sued for malpractice, and some sued twice or thrice. Here is a story from the Poppe Law firm blog about an Augusta law firm that has been sued so many times, its first carrier refused to renew the policy of legal malpractice insurance, and the second carrier won't settle a current legal malpractice case...
3 Lessons from this Legal Malpractice Case
Posted on May 12, 2008The recently decided DeLuca v. Goldberger provides several interesting lessons in legal malpractice. The first is that attorneys who take on cases and then tell the client shortly before the statute of limitations runs, or shortly before a case must be restored, or shortly before some other deadline fact a legal malpractice problem...
"The Strong Arm" Attorney and Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 09, 2008This short news article is probably wrong on several counts of its report, but the story itself is compelling. Client goes to a personal injury attorney Frank "The Strong Arm" Azar with a car accident case and then the case is settled for $ 25,000...
Does The Public Want [Need} to Know about Legal Malpractice?
Posted on May 09, 2008In this article from Law.Com a question in Texas mirrors similar issues in California, Nevada and Ohio. In the recent past there have been surveys, bar association meetings, proposed legislation and other indicia of interest in either mandatory legal malpractice insurance or required insurance disclosure to clients...
West Virginia, Mandatory Disclosure of Legal Malpractice Insurance
Posted on May 08, 2008This report from the West Virginia Record is an eye-opener on politics and judicial elections. The tip of the iceberg is an aside in which an attorney has been suspended for failing to disclose whether he has legal malpractice insurance. The story is mulit-facited, however:"MORGANTOWN - E-mails in state Supreme Court candidate Bob Bastress' West Virginia University College of Law account show he and others speculating on the race...
Termination For Cause in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 07, 2008Good cause for termination is not the same as malpractice. Attorney malpractice, the deviation from good and accepted practice, which proximately damaged the party, in which, but for the negligence of the attorney there would have been a different or better result is not the same as good cause for termination...
Matrimonial Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 06, 2008Suri Katebi, Plaintiff-Appellant, v Paul Fink, et al., Defendants-Respondents. SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT 2008 NY Slip Op 4141 May 1, 2008, Decided May 1, 2008, Entered Clients are often asked at an allocution, settling a matrimonial action whether they are satisfied with their attorney’s work...
Here the Lawyers Get the Benefit of Client's Release in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 05, 2008JOSEPH G. HUGAR AND LKC, LLC, PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS, v DAMON & MOREY LLP, CHRISTOPHER T. GREENE, ESQ., ANTHONY L. EUGENI, ESQ., AND ROBERT J. PORTIN, ESQ., DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS. 596 CA 07-02311 SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FOURTH DEPARTMENT 2008 NY Slip Op 4167; 2008 May 2, 2008, Decided May 2, 2008, Entered When are attorneys treated the same as their clients? Here is an example of attorneys getting the benefit of the client’s release...
Brocade, Backdating and Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 02, 2008Legal malpractice has lately been examining securities transactions, bankruptcies and other phenomina of the downward trend in the economy. Here, Law Com reports a new case against outside counsel for Brocade."Few plaintiffs have gone after companies' outside lawyers in backdating lawsuits...
Hearst v. Hearst and Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 02, 2008In the high-stakes Estates and Trust world of Suffolk County [think East Hampton, not Patchogue], this case was reported last week. Plaintiff John Randolph Hearst [of the publishing family] sued his attorney on the theory that he and his former wife "fraudulently deprived him of title and use of more than $ 20 million in real property...
Clifford Chance Out of Bankrutpcy Legal Malpractice Case
Posted on May 01, 2008The law firm Clifford Chance was the latest participant in a swelling bankruptcy legal malpractice series of cases. Anthony Lin of the NYLJ writes:"Citing 'Stoneridge,' Judge Releases Law Firm From Securities Suit A federal judge in Philadelphia has dropped Clifford Chance from a securities class action, citing the U...
Continuing Representation Avoids Dismissal in Legal Malpractice
Posted on May 01, 2008Frederick Rehberger, appellant, v Garguilo & Orzechowski, LLP, et al., respondents. (Index No. 30120/05) 2007-05158 SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, SECOND DEPARTMENT 2008 NY Slip Op 3187 April 8, 2008, Decided “In an action to recover damages for legal malpractice, the plaintiff appeals, as limited by his brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Kerins, J...
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Should I Sue? Examining the Complex Question and the Role Apologies Play in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
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Massachusetts: Medical Malpractice Statute of Repose Doesn't Apply to Fraud Claim
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Can a probation officer make a decision that involves a medical decision and prohibit a person from leaving a state to get medical help?
well if you could get him to a mental health facility they could screen him for ...
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You local court will probably have someone to offer you some assistance as you p...
Hi, I am a breeder of show great danes and all my danes that I sell carry my kennel name. One of my offspring, from two of my own great danes has produced a puppy that I sold to another party and that puppy has now becam
It's poor form to use a name the owner doesn't want you to use. Howeve...
Haw can I join with my family who live in the USA?
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In the county of the state where I live in the US, I am able to go to the websit...








