In a non-legal malpractice case, Federal Judge Sidney H. Stein made rulings which inform the substantive basis for legal malpractice cases. "But Southern District Judge Sidney H. Stein said in a Dec. 8 decision that a violation of the disciplinary rule proscribing noncompetes could not itself be the basis of a suit for damages.
The judge said New York law was clear that disciplinary rule violations could only be part of other claims, like breach-of-contract or legal malpractice. He distinguished Karas’ claim from other cases involving DR 2-108(A) in which defendant law firms withheld money contractually owed to plaintiff lawyers on the grounds that the latter had violated noncompete agreements. " The case.