Its a concept rarely seen or heard, and even more rarely invoked because of the county, not country where the law suit is brought.  Guess?  The law firm is defending itself in this legal malpractice case, and has a little too much time on its hands.

The Madison County Record, a newspaper which frequently features news about legal malpractice reports:

"The Illinois Appellate Court in Mt. Vernon unanimously affirmed St. Clair County Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto’s decision to deny a motion to dismiss a legal malpractice case pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens.

Rick Rosen and the Rosen Law Firm had argued to Cueto that St. Clair County was an inappropriate forum for Ivan Brant’s professional negligence and fraud claims arising from the defendants’ representation of the plaintiff.

Rosen and his law firm are both reside in St. Clair County.

Brant filed a six-count complaint against Rosen, the law firm, and a third defendant, Dwight Hardin, who is employed as a consultant by Rosen’s firm.

He alleged that he retained Rosen and the law firm to represent him in his Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) for damages against his employer, Union Pacific Railroad, for injuries he received during the course of his employment.

Brant alleged that both Rosen and Hardin told him that they were licensed, practicing attorneys, even though Hardin allegedly was not an attorney.

Brant alleged Rosen and Hardin negligently "instructed and counseled" him to settle his FELA case against the railroad for less than its fair value, failed to conduct an adequate investigation into the liability and damage evidence, and settled his case without filing suit or conducting any discovery and before he attained maximum medical improvement.

He also alleged that he received substantially less in settlement for his case than it was worth and, therefore, "suffered significant damages in the form of inappropriate compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future wages, pain, suffering, disability and disfigurement."

In addition to the professional negligence claims, Brant also claimed that each defendant was guilty of fraud because Rosen, individually and through the law firm and Hardin made several untrue statements.

According to Brant, he was told that he was required to accept Union Pacific’s settlement offer of $150,000 or be forced to accept $20,000 and relocate to Utah as a security guard. "

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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.