This NJ case was was "dismissed on the ground that plaintiff had voluntarily settled the underlying case without exhausting its appeal and separate active lawsuits, and thus was precluded as a matter of law from attempting to recoup the difference in the malpractice action against defendant. We reverse and remand. " wrote the SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY,APPELLATE DIVISION ,
DOCKET NO. A-2991-05T52991-05T5 .

"We are persuaded by many of plaintiff’s arguments and are satisfied the complaint should not have been dismissed on summary judgment. This case is factually and legally distinguishable from Puder and does not have the "fairness and the public policy [considerations] favoring settlements" or the equities that pervaded that case. Plaintiff’s principal never represented to anyone, let alone a court, that its settlement with the nursing homes was a "fair" and satisfactory resolution of its underlying claims. Nor by now suing Squitieri for malpractice is plaintiff seeking to profit from litigation positions that are "clearly inconsistent and uttered to obtain judicial advantage." Puder, supra, 183 N.J. at 444 (quoting Newell v. Hudson, 376 N.J. Super. 29, 46 (App. Div. 2005)). Moreover, plaintiff did not settle the underlying suit with the nursing homes prior to the trial court ruling on its motion to amend the complaint to assert the omitted Medicare-denied claims. That plaintiff chose to take the further steps and appeal the trial court’s denial of its motion to amend and to file the subsequent lawsuits to preserve the statute of limitations on its underlying claims, and thereafter decided, for a variety of reasons, to settle with the nursing homes prior to obtaining judicial determinations did not, under the circumstances of this case, preclude plaintiff’s malpractice claim as a matter of law.

The trial court should have evaluated whether plaintiff took reasonable steps, from plaintiff’s point of view, to remedy Squitieri’s alleged negligence before pursuing its malpractice action, which presented factual issues that could not be decided on this record on summary judgment. Instead, the court erroneously assumed as a matter of law under Puder that by filing the appeal and subsequent lawsuits, plaintiff had other forums in which to pursue its underlying claims, which it voluntarily chose not to pursue, and thus it was estopped from now proceeding against Squitieri. Moreover, the record does not support the court’s finding as to the viability of the two Law Division actions. On the contrary, we are satisfied there was credible evidence the complaints would not withstand Dellridge nursing home’s May 2003, dismissal motion. There was also an insufficient basis for the court’s finding on summary judgment that plaintiff had a good chance of success on its appeal. We do not believe the case law is as clear-cut as stated by the court. Expert testimony will most likely be required to assist the jury to determine the merits of plaintiff’s appeal of the underlying case and the potential for reversal of the motion judge’s denial of leave to amend the complaint, as well as the merits of the nursing home’s cross-appeal of the jury verdict. Furthermore, in assessing the reasonableness of plaintiff’s actions, the jury will also need to analyze all of the considerations that entered into plaintiff’s decision to settle the underlying case and dismiss the appeal, including the amount of the settlement.

We reverse the summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff’s malpractice complaint and remand for further proceedings. Plaintiff will proceed to prove Squitieri’s malpractice by way of the suit-within-a-suit or other appropriate format. Garcia v. Kozlov, Seaton, Romanini, & Brooks, P.C., 179 N.J. 343, 358 (2004). Defendant has the right to assert, among its other defenses, that it was unreasonable for plaintiff to settle the underlying case and dismiss the appeal, including that the amount of the settlement was unreasonable. "

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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.