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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

Litigating against States

Posted on January 25, 2008
Many legal malpractice cases arise from failures to file a notice of claim against a municipality or against the state. The case law is rife with General Municipal Law mistakes, as well as Court of Claims Act errors. This case, which involves not New York but Louisiana, shocks the conscience...

More on Electronic Discovery and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 25, 2008
Qualcom v. Boradcom Corp. is an important case. Duane Morris reports that it will set the standard for all electronic discovery in litigation. Once the standard is set, attorneys will be expected to heed and obey."The district court was particularly concerned with upholding the good faith standard necessitated by the discovery system and emphasized that for the system to work in a time when documents are stored electronically, "attorneys and clients must work together to ensure that both understand how and where electronic documents, records and emails are maintained and to determine how best to locate, review, and produce responsive documents...

Electronic Discovery and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 25, 2008
Electronic Discovery is with us, has been regulated, and there are now standards for its use in litigation. Attorneys for clients now have to advise on how to store, produce, resist demands, and comply with the appropriate rules.Whenever there is general agreement upon a standard of practice, the question of deviation from that standard arises...

Fee Dispute Arbitration and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 24, 2008
What does a client do when faced with an attorney fee demand? As is true with most things in life, a reflexive response is precisesly the wrong move. Many clients [and unfortunately many attorneys] advise or choose to arbitrate the fee dispute...

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Pro-Se on Both Sides in a Federal Court Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on January 23, 2008
It is rare to see a pro-se defendant in the rarified air of Federal District Court, even more rare for both sides to be pro-se. Here, in DANIEL KIRK and LINDA KIRK, v. JOSEPH M. HEPPT, ESQ., 05 Civ. 9977 (RWS) UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK January 16, 2008, Filed , the tide seems to be turning in favor of the defendant attorney...

Is a Legal Malpractice Attorney Required to Mitigate?

Posted on January 23, 2008
Here is the hypothetical: Plaintiff hires attorney A to prosecute an action against the State of New York, and does not timely file a notice of claim. There is still time within the statute of limitations to file a motion seeking leave to file a late notice of claim...

Lawyers Not Playing Nicely and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 23, 2008
Wrangles between lawyers is certainly no headline. Lawyers allowing venom to overpower reason similarly is no news. The case of Minchew, Santner & Brenner, LLP, and Jamie M. Minchew, v. John H. Somoza, Eleftherios Kravaris, Melito & Anderson, P...

Alcohol and Legal Malpractice?

Posted on January 22, 2008
The West Virginia Record reports this case in which plaintiff was terminated by his employer. Plaintiff's claim is that he was fired for doing jury service. He retained defendant attorney, and the case was litigated in Federal District Court, where it was dismissed on summary judgment...

Attorney Client Privilege and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 21, 2008
Here is our article from the New York Law Journal on Attorney Client Privilege and Legal Malpractice.

Lies, Crimes or Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 18, 2008
CEO Gregory Reyes was sentenced this week. Judge Charles Breyer told him that a false affidavit netted him 21 months rather than 15 months. Here's the problem for Reyes: his attorney drafted the document, and admitted his own "poor drafting...

Pennsylvania Formula for Calculating Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 18, 2008
When does the statute of limitations start to run on a legal malpractice case in Pennsylvania. Hinshwaw reports on this issue. "The Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the statute of limitations for a legal malpractice claim begins to run when the malpractice is committed and is only tolled until the plaintiff should reasonably have found out about some degree of injury...

Judicial Estoppel in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 17, 2008
Here is a case from New Jersey which gives a full explanation of "judicial estoppel" and its application to legal malpractice. Generally, the issue comes up when a client agrees to a settlement, which it later finds to be inadequate...

Legal Malpractice Verdict after Medical Malpractice in a Death Case

Posted on January 17, 2008
Failure to diagnose breast cancer...it's a horrible thing. When we think of a family member who could have been saved, who dies because of medical negligence, where a simple mammogram or simply reading it correctly could have made a difference....

A Milestone Reached

Posted on January 16, 2008
Today, we reach 1500 articles on Legal Malpractice.We would like to thank our readers for persevering with us through server breakdowns, slow story days, and our exploration of the legal malpractice world.

Are Experts Always Necessary in Legal Malpractice?

Posted on January 16, 2008
Experts are generally, but not always necessary in legal malpractice cases. The test is whether a fact-finder can rely upon its own knowledge. Here is an interesting case, Frances Northrop, respondent, v Eric Ole Thorsen, appellant. (Index No...

Recent Cases in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 15, 2008
RECENT CASES IN LEGAL MALPRACTICE 1. CHICAGO TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v BARBARA J. MAZULA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant; JAMES E. KEABLE, Third-Party Defendant-Respondent. SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, THIRD DEPARTMENT 2008 NY Slip Op 27 January 3, 2008 This is a case in which the question becomes whether an individual or an estate hired the attorney...

When is a QDRO Legal Malpractice?

Posted on January 14, 2008
That's not really the question, but here is a case which comes up frequently in matrimonial cases. One of the reasons that it comes up frequently, is that drafting of, and service of the QDRO is almost the last thing an attorney does for the martimonial client...

Contingent Fees, Appeals and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 14, 2008
Attorneys and clients enter into contingent fee retainer agreements, which do not directly address the question of an appeal. Is the legal fee for an appeal the responsibility of the client or the attorney in this situation? Here is a case from Madison/St...

Cuban Embargo, Legal Advice and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 14, 2008
It's winter, and our thoughts turn to the Caribbean. Here, a Philadelphia law firm, 1400 lawyers strong, gave commercial advice pertaining to the Cuban embargo, and are now defendants in a legal malpractice case. Here is the story from Bloomberg, via the Caribbean news agency...

Barnett v. Schwartz and Pre-Judgment Interest in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 10, 2008
The question of pre-judgment interest in legal malpractice has not been widely understood . Generally, it was thought that an award of pre-judgment interest was determined on the same basis as in the underlying case. Contract damages, yes...

A Seminal Case in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 10, 2008
This is a seminal, important case which will, we predict, be widely cited and discussed in Legal Malpractice. Barnett v. Schwartz, 2007 NY Slip Op. 09712, 2d Dept, December 11, 2007 is important for several reasons. We’ll discuss the first here“But for” causation is not as difficult as had previously been believed...

Attorney Fees, Dismissal and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 09, 2008
Here is an article from Hinshaw which tells us that "A law firm may represent itself and may pursue not only contract or quasi-contract but also tort theories in suing a former client, at least as long as the amount sought in damages does not exceed the amount of unpaid legal fees""Law firm Pedersen and Houpt provided a variety of legal services to Summit Real Estate Group, LLC (Summit) including successfully litigating a breach of contract claim...

LA Sues its City Attorney in Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 08, 2008
This story from LA is about a failed City of LA law suit over an underground gas main construction project. The action was filed late, and dismissed. Now the city attorney is a defendant."A jury will decide if the former attorney for the city of Vernon committed legal malpractice and if he should pay more than $1 million in damages...

City Attorney, A Firing and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 07, 2008
In this New Hampshjre newspaper report, a city attorney is now a defendant in legal malpractice. "CLAREMONT - The City of Claremont has filed a lawsuit alleging malpractice and negligence on the part of then-city solicitor John J. Yazinski for his role in the dismissal of former city tax assessor Steve Snelling in September 2000...

A State Court Patent Legal Malpractice Case in Colorado

Posted on January 07, 2008
While, generally, patent law depends on Federal Law, and provides federal question jurisdiction in Federal District Court for patent legal malpractice cases, here is an interesting state court appellate decision from Colorado. Bristol v. Osman, Court of Appeals, Colorado...

Shredding, Files, the New Year and Legal Malpractice

Posted on January 07, 2008
Small towns have communities that notice small events. Here is an example: a lawfirm throws out old files, and they mistakenly sit on the curb, awaiting the garbage truck. The local news station finds out, and puts this story on their website...

A Legal Malpractice Lawsuit that Just Won't End

Posted on January 04, 2008
Law.Com reports on this Venable Legal malpractice case:"In 2004, Venable partner Stefan Tucker's former client Alan Weinberger sued him for malpractice. The claim stemmed from a prior suit between Weinberger and another of Tucker's ex-clients, Lev Volftsun...

NJ Criminal Defense Legal Malpractice Case II

Posted on January 04, 2008
McNight v. Public Defender is recently decided New Jersey Legal Malpractice Case. We started a discussion yesterday.Today, let's look at the court's description of the three approaches to criminal defense legal malpractice cases.1. Need for Actual Innocence: NY is among these jurisdictions...

Weil Gotshal and Texas Legal Malpractice Case

Posted on January 04, 2008
NY Lawyer [and Law.Com] report that a Texas business owner has sued Weil Gotshal & Manges over its handling of a Texas credit union acquisition."Dallas businessman has sued Weil, Gotshal & Manges, alleging that the firm and two of its partners took advantage of him as a client by lessening his interest in a deal while he was undergoing treatment for cancer...

New Jersey Sets Rules for Criminal Defense Legal Malpractice Caes

Posted on January 03, 2008
Legal malpractice cases against the criminal defense attorney are confusing. In addition to all the other elements, in NY one must prove actual innocence or exoneration. When the statute begins to run [date of malpractice, date of last representation, date of final judgment, date that post-conviction motion decided, reversal or exoneration] is a difficult call...

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