It’s a common enough scenario.  Home buyer (not a professional) wants to buy what looks like a bargain.  Home buyer goes to an attorney and the closing takes place.  Problem?  ECB as judgments against the property which don’t get taken care of, the neighbor has a right to use the driveway and there are structural problems.  Was it the obligation of the attorney to tell the buyer to get an inspection?  Did the attorney have to explain the title search results to the buyer?

Right now, in Bergwijn v Big Queens Rehab Inc.  2017 NY Slip Op 31227(U) June 1, 2017  Supreme Court, Kings County  Docket Number: 505174/16  Judge: Genine D. Edwards the title company is out, and there is to be more briefing for the attorney.

“Bergwijn commenced this action on April 5, 2016, regarding his January 9, 2012 purchase of the residential real property at 115 Miller Avenue in Brooklyn (Property) from defendant, Big Queens Rehab Inc. (Big Queens). In connection with the sale of the Property, DeGaetano was Bergwijn’s attorney and Old Republic issued Owner’s Policy Of Title Insurance No. OX-08524493 (Title Policy)

The complaint alleges that Big Queens and DeGaetano “advised Plaintiff that he did not need an inspection of the house” and, in reliance on that advice, Bergwijn did not have the Property inspected (complaint at iii! 14-15 and 18). Allegedly: (1) Bergwijn was not informed of Environmental Control Board (ECB) violations against the Property; (2) there was an illegal basement and a hidden bathroom at the Property; (3) the neighbor had an easement to use the common driveway at the Property; and (4) DeGaetano “encouraged” Bergwijn “to sign the closing documents without explaining what they meant” (id. atirif 19- 22). The complaint further alleges that the ECB violations “had been converted into Judgments totaling $66,000.00 [which] predate the Plaintiffs purchase of the Property” and “the Title Policy from Defendant Old Republic … did not alert Plaintiff to any of the liens, judgments or violations … ” (id. at iii! 25 and 26).  ”

“ORDERED that: (a) Bergwijn shall serve and file papers in opposition to DcGaetano’s motion for summary judgment within 45 days of service of a copy of this interim decision and order with notice of entry; (b) DeGaetano shall serve and file papers in opposition to Bergwijn’s cross-motion for summary judgment within 45 days of service of a copy of this interim decision and order with notice of entry; (c) DeGaetano shall serve and file reply papers in further support of his motion for summary judgment within 45 days of receipt of opposition papers; and ( d) Bergwijn shall serve and file reply papers in further support of his cross-motion for summary judgment within 45 days of receipt of opposition papers. “

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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.