USHA SOHA Terrace, LLC v Robinson Brog Leinwand Greene Genovese & Gluck, P.C. 2014 NY Slip Op 31813(U),  July 9, 2014,  Supreme Court, New York County , Judge: Melvin L. Schweitzer is a fairly typical Judiciary Law 487 case.  It is a legal malpractice and Judiciary Law 487 case in which plaintiffs assert direct and derivative claims against legal counsel for the owner and developer in a construction project in which plaintiff LLC was a minority investor.  On a motion to dismiss, the court dismissed.

“The motion to dismiss is granted. First, plaintiff Minority i\:’fember, as a member of a limited liability corporation, lacks standing to sue in its individual capacity for losses derived solely from injury to the limited liability company. See Yudell v Gilbert, 99 AD3d 108, 113-114 (1st Dept 2012]; Breslin Realty Dev. Corp. v Shaw, 72 AD3d 258, 266 (2d Dept 2010); Baker v Andover Assoc. Mgt. Corp., 30 Misc 3d 1218 [A], 2009 NY Slip Op 52788[U], * 16-17 (Sup Ct Westchester County 2009). To determine if a claim is direct or derivative, the court must look at the source of the claim of right. If the harm is from the defendants to the corporation, the harm to the shareholders or investors flows through the corporation, and is derivative. On the other , ~ hand, if the right flows from a breach of a duty owed directly to the shareholder, then the suit is direct. See Weber v King, 110 F Supp 2d 124, 132 (ED NY 2000); Baker v Andover Assoc. Mgt. Corp., 30 Misc 3d 1218 [A], 2009 NY Slip Op 52788 [U], * 16-17., A claim for diminution in ‘ value of the shares is harm to the corporation, the shareholder’s injury flows through the corporation, and the claim is derivative even if the decrease in value derives from a breach of fiduciary duty. See Yudell v Gilbert, 99 AD3d at 113-144; O’Neill v Warburg Pincus & Co., 39 AD3d 281, 281-282 (1st Dept 2007). Here, in the amended complaint, plaintiff asserts losses as any “monies owed to [2280 FDB] and [Developer], which were in tum paid to [RGS Holdings and Futterman] resulted in actual monetary losses to [plaintiff Minority Member], in that [plaintiff Minority Member] retains a fourteen percent ( 14%) inter~st in assets of Developer” (amended complaint,~ 43). This claim for diminution in the value of plaintiff’s shares involves harm to the corporation, and may only be pursued derivatively. In addition, the only other injury alleged is the failure of 2280 FOB to recover any portion of its aw~d against Racanelli, which is a direct injury only to 2280 FDB. ”

“Finally, the third claim in the amended complaint fails to sufficiently plead a claim under Judiciary Law § 487. Under that statute, the plaintiff needs to allege an extreme and chronic pattern of legal delinquency in order to recover. Solow Mgt. Corp. v Seltzer, 18 AD3d 399, 400 (1st Dept 2005]; Pellegrino v File, 291 AD2d at 63). The amended complaint here fails to allege the requisite pattern of wrongdoing or deceit necessary to sustain that claim, and fails to allege that any loss suffered by 2280 FDB was the proximate result of Legal Counsel’s alleged . collusion or deceit. “

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Andrew Lavoott Bluestone

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened…

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened his private law office and took his first legal malpractice case.

Since 1989, Bluestone has become a leader in the New York Plaintiff’s Legal Malpractice bar, handling a wide array of plaintiff’s legal malpractice cases arising from catastrophic personal injury, contracts, patents, commercial litigation, securities, matrimonial and custody issues, medical malpractice, insurance, product liability, real estate, landlord-tenant, foreclosures and has defended attorneys in a limited number of legal malpractice cases.

Bluestone also took an academic role in field, publishing the New York Attorney Malpractice Report from 2002-2004.  He started the “New York Attorney Malpractice Blog” in 2004, where he has published more than 4500 entries.

Mr. Bluestone has written 38 scholarly peer-reviewed articles concerning legal malpractice, many in the Outside Counsel column of the New York Law Journal. He has appeared as an Expert witness in multiple legal malpractice litigations.

Mr. Bluestone is an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University College of Law, teaching Legal Malpractice.  Mr. Bluestone has argued legal malpractice cases in the Second Circuit, in the New York State Court of Appeals, each of the four New York Appellate Divisions, in all four of  the U.S. District Courts of New York and in Supreme Courts all over the state.  He has also been admitted pro haec vice in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida and was formally admitted to the US District Court of Connecticut and to its Bankruptcy Court all for legal malpractice matters. He has been retained by U.S. Trustees in legal malpractice cases from Bankruptcy Courts, and has represented municipalities, insurance companies, hedge funds, communications companies and international manufacturing firms. Mr. Bluestone regularly lectures in CLEs on legal malpractice.

Based upon his professional experience Bluestone was named a Diplomate and was Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys in 2008 in Legal Malpractice. He remains Board Certified.  He was admitted to The Best Lawyers in America from 2012-2019.  He has been featured in Who’s Who in Law since 1993.

In the last years, Mr. Bluestone has been featured for two particularly noteworthy legal malpractice cases.  The first was a settlement of an $11.9 million dollar default legal malpractice case of Yeo v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman which was reported in the NYLJ on August 15, 2016. Most recently, Mr. Bluestone obtained a rare plaintiff’s verdict in a legal malpractice case on behalf of the City of White Plains v. Joseph Maria, reported in the NYLJ on February 14, 2017. It was the sole legal malpractice jury verdict in the State of New York for 2017.

Bluestone has been at the forefront of the development of legal malpractice principles and has contributed case law decisions, writing and lecturing which have been recognized by his peers.  He is regularly mentioned in academic writing, and his past cases are often cited in current legal malpractice decisions. He is recognized for his ample writings on Judiciary Law § 487, a 850 year old statute deriving from England which relates to attorney deceit.