We are pleased to say that the Court of Appeals answered a certified question in our favor in Gevorkyan v Judelson   2017 NY Slip Op 05176  Decided on June 27, 2017  Court of Appeals
DiFiore, Ch. J. a case we have labored on over the past several years.  In this novel question of law, the Court of Appeals defined when a bail bond agent earns a bail bond premium.  Amici briefs suggested that there is widespread abuse of criminal defendants regarding bail bond premiums.

“The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, by certified question, has asked us whether an entity engaged in the bail bond business may retain the premium paid on [*2]a criminal defendant’s behalf when bail is denied and the defendant is never released from custody. Inasmuch as the Insurance Law provides that such an entity does not earn a premium for a bail bond if a court refuses to accept the bond following a bail source hearing, we answer in the negative.

I.

In 2011, Arthur Bogoraz was indicted on state law fraud charges and bail was fixed at $2 million. Plaintiffs, the wife and family friends of Bogoraz, contacted defendant Ira Judelson, a licensed bail bond agent affiliated with the International Fidelity Insurance Company (International Fidelity), a bail bond surety. Judelson, on behalf of International Fidelity, entered into an indemnity agreement with plaintiffs whereby International Fidelity agreed to underwrite a bail bond to secure Bogoraz’s release from custody in exchange for a premium of $120,560. Plaintiffs promised to indemnify the bond and provide collateral. Shortly thereafter, plaintiffs paid the premium to Judelson, in trust for International Fidelity. ”

“Further, as discussed above, the bail bond statutes empower a court to examine a posted bail bond and determine whether it should be approved or rejected (see CPL 520.30 [1], [*6][3]; Insurance Law § 6803 [b]). The court may reject the bail bond if it is dissatisfied with the source of the funds, the reliability of the obligors, the value of the security, the qualifications of the surety, or indeed “any feature of the undertaking [that] contravenes public policy” (CPL 520.30 [1]; see also Insurance Law § 6803 [b]). Under Judelson’s interpretation, a court could reject a bail bond following a bail source hearing based on the surety’s qualifications or because the surety failed to properly vet the underlying security, yet, because the surety “posted” bail bond, the surety could still retain the premium. Such an outcome does not comport with the legislative intent to protect against abuses in the bail bond industry.

In short, Insurance Law § 6804 (a) prohibits a bail bond surety from retaining a premium when the criminal defendant is not released on bail.”

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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.