In this particular case, it is possible to read through the entire Appellate decision and not even know what was alleged against the attorneys.  Rather, on summary judgment, the court determines that plaintiff could not have won against the insurer, hence, legal malpractice case is dismissed.  Unlike other types of cases, the fight is usually on the "case within a case" or on a more basic issue such as statute of limitations.  In this case, Schorsch v. Moses Singer, 2009 NY Slip Op 02293 ,Decided on March 26, 2009 , Appellate Division, First Department  we see:
 

"The court properly found that Margaret Schorsch’s affidavit failed to create an issue of material fact as to whether her brother David was responsible for the 1995 inventory loss, or whether he was an "authorized representative" of M.R.S. Antiques so as to defeat coverage under the "dishonest acts" exclusion in the policy. Her affidavit contradicts detailed statements she previously made under oath in a 1995 case she brought against David wherein she alleged that he, as an integral member of the family business, had stolen company inventory and was thus responsible for the loss. This contradiction negated the authority of her affidavit as a basis for defeating defendant’s motion for summary judgment (see Sugarman v Malone, 48 AD3d 281 [2008]).

Plaintiffs’ assertion that the insurance policy did not contain an exclusion for dishonest acts is contrary to the record evidence. It is true that the insurer’s counsel, in the February 14, 1997 letter denying coverage, mistakenly cited to a different policy it had issued to M.R.S. Antiques. However, the slight differences between the language of the Fine Arts Coverage dishonest acts exclusion and the one incorrectly cited by counsel in the letter do not affect the [*2]material terms of the applicable exclusion. The basic scope is the same: coverage is excluded for dishonest acts by "you" or the insured’s "employees" or "authorized representatives" or "anyone entrusted with the property." Since the inventory loss was caused by the dishonest acts of David, who qualified as an authorized representative of M.R.S. Antiques or a person otherwise entrusted with the missing property, coverage was properly denied. "

 

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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.