Tai v Broche  2016 NY Slip Op 31586(U)  August 18, 2016  Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: 652769/2011  Judge: Joan M. Kenney is the story of some high-stakes Manhattan real estate, and the legal malpractice claims that accompany it.  The attorneys say that they warned their client not to close, but close it did.  Lots of money was lost in the transaction, so…

“These consolidated actions arise out of the purchase of the Premises by Property 215, a company owned by Tai, from the Estate. In a related action, Panasia Estate, Inc. (Panasia) obtained damages from Property 51, to which Property 215 assigned its contract, on a claim of tortious interference with Panasia’s prior contract to purchase the Premises from the Estate, and the contract for the sale of the Premises to Property 51 was held to be void ab initio. See Panasia Estate, Inc. v Broche, 122 AD3d 454 (1st Dept 2014). The Pour defendants represented the Tai plaintiffs in their purchase of the Premises. The Berko defendants were the broker in that transaction, and also in a subsequent unrelated transaction, in which Tai and third-party defendant NTD Building, LLC, as owner, sold a commercial condominium unit in the building located at 156-168 Bleeker Street in Manhattan. ”

“In motion sequence no. 003, the Pour defendants’ motion to dismiss Tai’s legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims is granted, and Tai’s cross motion for summary judgment is denied. Tai’s claims rest on her allegation that Pour failed timely to advise her of the Panasia action and the filing of the tis pendens. While Tai avers in her affidavit that Pour did not inform her of the action, or the tis pendens, until the day after the closing on the Premises, those statements are belied by Tai’s acknowledgment at her deposition that, as Pour states in his affidavit, he had multiple telephone conversations with Tai on the day of the closing, told her about both the Panasia action and the !is pend ens, and secured her agreement to enter into a joint defense to the Panasia action, with Broche. Moreover, Tai is collaterally estopped from denying that she knew about both the Panasia action and the lis pendens, prior to the closing on the Premises. S_ee Tai v Broche 115 AD3d 577, 579 (1st Dept 2014) (“[Tai’s] awareness of the pendency of [the ‘.anasia] action, the filing of a notice of pendency, and Panasia’s rejec~io~ o~ the Estat~’s atten~pt to term1~~te th~ Panasia contract defeats the justifiable reliance element of [plamt1ffs] fraud claim [aga~nst Broche ~ ). !at does not contest Pour’s avennent that he advised Tai not to proceed with the closing until the Panas ta action was resolved, but that she disregarded that advice, directed him to proceed with the c_losing, ~nd several days prior to the closing, retained litigation counsel to bring ~specific performance a~~ton agamst Broche. Finally, Tai’s allegation that Pour’s post-closmg request for an ad?1t10nal $20,000 payment constituted a “kickback,” or a “shakedown” is rejected, because Pour’s post-closmg request was based upon his additional services, including successfully persuading Broche that the Estate pay the entire mortgage recording tax, in the amount of $115,000, and negotiating, with Tai’s participation by telephone, a “Second Amendment” to the contract between Broche and Tai, that provided, among other terms, the extensive indemnification and hold harmless provision that Tai is now using to support her claims against Broche. Indeed, at the time, Tai agreed that Pour should receive additional compensation, but she persuaded Berko to contribute half of that additional payment, out of his fee, while paying nothing herself. “

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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.