Legal Malpractice

Legal Malpractice and Reading the Document

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

in Gelobter v Fox 10/01/2010 , Supreme Court, Nassau County,  Judge Marber, we see a legal malpractice action sounding in "Seller Rescue Fraud."  Plaintiff says that she did not know the price at which she sold her house, and that the actually selling price was several hundred thousand dollars less than she believed.

Her complaint was dismissed, sanctions were granted against plaintiff  and plaintiff moved to renew and reargue  On this motion and decision, Justice Marber recites the Bishop v. Maurer. 9 NY3d 910 (2007)

Clients (and everyone else) are bound by the contents of documents they sign and agree to.  A defense that the signer did not read the contents has extremely limited currency.  An exception in legal malpractice actions might arise when the documents are very difficult legal writings, that a lay person might not understand, even when read.

In Bishop the Court of Appeals wrote: " [it] is true that plaintiffs here, as is normally the case, are bound by the estate planning documents decedent signed. Nevertheless, the conclusiveness of the underlying agreement does not absolutely preclude an action for professional malpractice against an attorney for negligently giving to a client an incorrect explanation of the contents of a legal document (see Arnav Indus., Inc. Retirement Trust v Brown, Raysman, Millstein, Felder & Steiner, 96 NY2d 300, 305 [2001]). "

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on October 18, 2010 (boomark / email).