It’s not often that a civil litigant in State Court can wind up with the US Attorney and some of the bigger defense firms in NY arrayed against her.  However, Ms. Lipin seems to have angered State Supreme Court, the Appellate Division, and possibly US District Court too. Lipin v Danske Bank
2015 NY Slip Op 05896  Decided on July 7, 2015  Appellate Division, First Department has ended with her being muzzled.  No new lawsuits without court permission.

“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Louis B. York, J.), entered June 24, 2014, which denied plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment against defendants in action number one [*2](index # 100807/13) on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction due to removal of the action to federal court, and enjoined plaintiff from making additional motions in the action without the court’s consent, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered July 18, 2013, which denied another motion for a default judgment on the same ground, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as untimely taken. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered September 24, 2013, which denied plaintiff’s motion to reargue a motion for default judgment on the same ground, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as taken from a nonappealable paper. Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Louis B. York, J.) entered June 19, 2014, which denied plaintiff’s four motions for default judgments against defendants in action number two (index # 155308/13) also on the ground of lack of jurisdiction due to removal of the action to federal court, and also enjoined plaintiff from making additional motions in the action without the court’s consent, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered July 23, 2013, which denied another motion for default judgment on the same ground, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as untimely taken. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered September 25, 2013, which denied plaintiff’s motion to reargue her prior motion for default judgment on the same ground, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as taken from a nonappealable paper.

In these two related actions, the motion court properly denied plaintiff’s motions for default judgments on the basis of lack of jurisdiction. Once the underlying actions were removed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by the filing of the notice of removal with the state court, the state court no longer had jurisdiction to rule on plaintiff’s motions (see 28 USC § 1446; Clayton v American Fedn. of Musicians, 243 AD2d 347 [1st Dept 1997]). The notice of removal was timely and properly filed (see 28 USC § 1446), and the District Court has original jurisdiction over claims alleging violations of federal statutes, as well as supplemental jurisdiction over the state claims, including the Judiciary Law

§ 487 claims, since they arose out of the same case or controversy (see 28 USC §§ 1331, 1367[A], 1441[a]; Eastern States Health & Welfare Fund v Philip Morris, Inc., 11 F Supp 2d 384, 388 [SDNY 1998]).

Furthermore, the court properly exercised its discretion in enjoining plaintiff from making any further motions in these actions without prior court approval given the frivolous motions she continued to file even after the action was removed to federal court, and after the motion court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction (see Bikman v 595 Broadway Assoc., 88 AD3d 455 [1st Dept 2011], lv denied 21 NY3d 856 [2013]; Jones v Maples, 286 AD2d 639 [1st Dept 2001], lv dismissed 97 NY2d 716 [2002]).”

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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.