New York Attorney Malpractice Blog

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By: Andrew Lavoott Bluestone

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Andrew Lavoott Bluestone

Latest from New York Attorney Malpractice Blog

“”An action to recover damages for legal malpractice must be commenced within three years after the accrual of the cause of action” (Bullfrog, LLC v Nolan, 102 AD3d 719, 719-720; see CPLR 214[6]).”  Thus starts and ends most legal malpractice case discussions of the onset of the statute of limitations.  That date might be extended by continuous representation.  However, in Golden Jubilee Realty, LLC v Castro, 2021 NY Slip Op 04541,Decided on July…
Merely having a good legal malpractice claim is not enough.  Plaintiff must properly prosecute the claim.  Forgetting the potential irony of losing a legal malpractice case for failing to follow a court rule, Allstar Elecs., Inc. v DeLuca  2020 NY Slip Op 07018 [188 AD3d 1121] November 25, 2020 Appellate Division, Second Department demonstrates the importance of discovery responses. “The nature and degree of the penalty to be imposed pursuant to CPLR 3126 against a…
Legal malpractice is unique;  this phrase recurs he because claims against attorneys are subjected to a greater scrutiny and are granted a much higher level of latitude.  Consider whether a physician is ever granted a dismissal because the patient is “sophisticated”? Yet, in  Scarola Malone & Zubatov LLP v Ellner     2021 NY Slip Op 31199(U), April 8, 2021 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 651324/2017 Judge: Anthony Cannataro that is what happens. “Where a…
It really does not matter how many times one goes to the well;  there is either water or no water.  In Armatas v Kestenbaum 2020 NY Slip Op 07846 [189 AD3d 1319] December 23, 2020 Appellate Division, Second Department a city attorney-defendant kept at it until the case was dismissed on all grounds, actual or academic. “In 2008, the plaintiff commenced an action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New…
Burke, Albright, Harter & Rzepka LLP v Sills  2020 NY Slip Op 05322 [187 AD3d 1507] October 2, 2020 Appellate Division, Fourth Department is an upstate slow legal fee – legal malpractice estate claim that percolated for 16 years before ending abruptly. “In 2016, the third attorney to represent the coexecutors was granted permission to withdraw. In 2017, Robert passed away, and no further action occurred on the case until March 2018, when an…
United States Life Ins. Co. in the City of N.Y. v Horowitz  2021 NY Slip Op 01877 [192 AD3d 613] March 25, 2021 Appellate Division, First Department os the rare case in which the Appellate Division soundingly finds that a Judiciary Law § 487 claim is stated. “Judiciary Law § 487 (1) provides that an attorney who is “guilty of any deceit or collusion, or consents to any deceit or collusion, with intent to deceive the…
The Big Accounting firms in the US dispense CPA and some legal advice on taxes.  How to parse one from the other is discussed in Boesky v Levine  2021 NY Slip Op 02059 [193 AD3d 403] April 1, 2021 Appellate Division, First Department. “The motion court properly dismissed as time barred the legal malpractice claims that pertain to legal services received from Levine and Herrick Feinstein from 2002-2005. The complaint does not allege that at…
The statute of limitations is approaching, yet the underlying case is not yet finished. How to handle this problem?  Aydiner v Karasik Law Group, P.C.  2021 NY Slip Op 30781(U) March 15, 2021 Supreme Court, Richmond County Docket Number: 151944/2020 Judge: Ralph J. Porzio catalogues the possibilities. “The key question in the instant Motion is whether Plaintiffs’ legal malpractice cause of action is premature based on Plaintiffs’ pending Order to Show Cause with respect to…
Speculation on how a judge will rule can sometimes be elided, sometimes not.  Denisco v Uysal  2021 NY Slip Op 04118 Decided on June 30, 2021 Appellate Division, Second Department was an unsuccessful example. “In August 2015, the plaintiff retained the defendants to represent him in connection with a claim for workers’ compensation benefits based upon injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiff in the course of his employment on July 30, 2015. At a hearing,…
Almost uniformly claims of overbilling or unnecessary legal work and fees are dismissed as “duplicitive” of a legal malpractice claim.  Dubon v Drexel  2021 NY Slip Op 04119 Decided on June 30, 2021 Appellate Division, Second Department is a rare example where the Court distinguishes between a real contract claim and one which is based on the lack of quality of legal work. “The plaintiff hired the defendants, Allen Drexel and Drexel, LLC (hereinafter together…