Small Smiles is a horror story of dental marketing, and the abuse of children.  There is a legal malpractice aspect to it, which is wholly overshadowed by the callous dentistry here.

"All plaintiffs allege that: (1) defendants engaged in a scheme to treat patients for Forba’s profits rather than for plaintiffs’ dental needs; (2) the New York clinics operated in violation of law because they were not owned or controlled by licensed dentists; (3) defendants engaged in a course of conduct that intended to create "a culture at the clinics that put revenue generation as a top priority at the expense of quality of dental treatment" (Compl. ¶56); (4) defendants utilized a common "fraudulent script" with patients regarding the risks of restraints (Compl. ¶68); (5) defendants engaged in deceptive acts or practices; and (6) the treating dentists committed dental malpractice by following the Forba business model of increasing production (procedures) per patient and wrongfully restraining children.
 

Here are some examples:

"Plaintiff Bohn treated at the Syracuse Small Smiles clinic between May 2006 and March 2008, when he was between the ages of three and five. During that time he had four root canals with crowns, seven fillings, two extractions and one crown without a corresponding root canal. He was restrained twice, and on three occasions his teeth were filled without anesthesia. Compl. ¶155.

Defendant Montanye treated at the Syracuse Small Smiles clinic between June 2006 and September 2007, when he was between the ages of two and three. During that time he had four root canals with crowns and six fillings. He was restrained three times, and on three occasions his teeth were filled without anesthesia. Compl. ¶ 163.

Plaintiff Fortino treated at the Syracuse Small Smiles clinic between August 2005 and February 2007, when she was between the ages of four and six. During that time, she had nine root canals with crowns, two fillings, two crowns without corresponding root canals and one extraction. She was restrained four times. Compl. ¶157.

Plaintiff Kenyon treated at the Syracuse Small Smiles clinic between April 2005 and September 2008, when he was between the ages of three and seven. During that time, he had six root canals with crowns and seven fillings. He was restrained three times, and on three occasions his teeth were filled without anesthesia. Compl. ¶158.

Plaintiff Mathews treated at the Syracuse Small Smiles clinic between June 2005 and May 2006, when he was between the ages

of three and four. During that time, he had five teeth filled, two extractions, and one root canal with a crown. He was restrained five times, and on two occasions his teeth were filled without anesthesia. Compl. ¶160. "
 

We’ll discuss the legal malpractice aspects tomorrow.

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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.