Leonard Global Macro Fund LLC v North Am. Globex Fund, L.P.  2014 NY Slip Op 32393(U)  August 29, 2014  Sup Ct, New York County
Docket Number: 150346/13  Judge: Nancy M. Bannon illustrates the principal that standing by and waiting to sue may lead to a successful statute of limitations defense.  For the most part actions against attorneys, accountants, and other non-medical professionals are subject to a three year statute of limitations which commences at the time of the error.  There are few, if any, “discovery” statutes which might commence when the error is discovered.  This hedge-fund gone wrong case illustrates the dangers of waiting.

“The. ninth and tenth causes of action purport to assert negligence and malpractice claims against Kurcias Jaffe, Sofo, Madison Grey and Strategic. Each of the defendants moves for dismissal of these claims based on the expiration of the statute of limitations. A claim for negligent misrepresentation is subject to a three-year statute of limitations (United States Fire Ins. Co. v North Shore Risk Mgt., 114 AD3d 408, 410 [1st Dept 2014]). Plaintiff alleges that it received the PPM, the DDQ and other investment-related documents in 2007 and that it invested in the Fund in January 2008 in reliance on these documents, Northstar, Peister, Geantasio and the Fund’s auditors and outside administrators (see Am. Cmplt., iii! 45- 47). Thus, any claim based on negligent misrepresentation was time-barred as of January 2011. The sixth cause of action is dismissed as against Geantasio, Kurcias Jaffe and Sofo. Negligence is governed by a three-year statute oflimitations (CPLR 214 [4]). “A cause of action alleging professional malpractice, i.e., that a professional failed to perform services with due care and in accordance with the recognized and accepted practices of the profession, is governed by the three year Statute of Limitations applicable to negligence actions” (Fred Smith Plumbing & Heating Co. v Christensen, 233 AD2d 207, 208 [!st Dept 1996]). A claim alleging accountant malpractice accrues when the malpractice is committed, i.e., upon the receipt of the accountant’s work product (Williamson v.PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, 9 NY3d 1, 7-8 [2007]). On February 13, 2009, Kurcias Jaffe sent a letter.to the Fund, its partners and investors stating that it had resigned as the auditor of the Fund for the year ending December 31, 2007 21 [* 21] “because of our inability to complete the audit based upon the information provided by the Company” (Knopf Affirm., Ex. 3). The statute of limitations for negligence and/or malpractiCe claims by Kurcias Jaffe and Sofo expired on February 14, 2012. MadisonGrey was replaced as the outside auditor in June 2008 and Strategic resigned on January 13, 2009 (Am. Cmplt., ii 85; Carpenter Aff., Ex. J). Accordingly, the ninth and tenth causes of action are dismissed against Kurcias Jaffe, Sofo, MadisonGrey and Strategic, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (5).”

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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.