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Legal Malpractice

: New York Attorney Malpractice Blog

Legal Malpractice Fallout from the Modeling Industry

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

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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.

in Pillard v. Goodman, Supreme Court, New York County, we see one of Justice Lehner's opinions. Pillard was at one time president of Elite, and then moved around by John Casablancas to another position. Victoria Gallegos was hired as a liaison between Elite and its clients. After complaining about smoke, she was filed in 1999. Pillard was one of several defendants in the employment discrimination and eventually received an award of $ 2.6 million in compensatory damages and $ 2.6 million in punitive damages. The awards were later reduced, but remained substantial.

Pillard was forced into voluntary bankruptcy under Chapter 11, but the crux of this case is whether the attorneys for all the Elite Defendants committed legal malpractice with regard to the smallest defendant in the group. Supreme Court has determined that the claims survive a motion to dismiss the complaint under CPLR 3211(a)(7).

Pillard's claim arises from the dense relationship between the attorneys, the company, the board, and the individual defendants. Pillard alleges that attorney Curtin was both her private attorney as well as attorney for Elite, and failed to advise Pillard that asthma was a disability under the Human Rights law and that accommodations had to be made for Gallegos.

More to the point, Pillard alleges multiple conflicts of interest and a wrongful joint representation, failed to offer crucial documents and failed to demonstrate that Pillard was no longer the president of Elite at the time.

Justice Lehner dismissed certain of the causes of action, but the case continues.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on November 19, 2009 (boomark / email).