Partial summary judgment for plaintiff is a rare beast in legal malpractice.  Judges have to overcome their natural bias against legal malpractice and the facts have to be very strong, or the acts of the attorneys very clearly wrong for partial summary judgment to be granted.  Here, in Krigsman v Goldberg  2018 NY Slip Op 30694(U)  April 19, 2018  Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 151271 /16  Judge: Manuel J. Mendez we see the rara avis.

“Plaintiff claims that the Goldberg Defendants were retained by plaintiff’s mother, Dora Avrumson (hereinafter “Dora”) in March of 2003, about a month after the death of her second husband Shlomo Cyngiel (hereinafter “Shlomo”), who died on February 15, 2003. It is alleged that the Goldberg Defendants committed malpractice when they failed to exercise Dora’s right of election in accordance with EPTL§5-1.1-A. It is further alleged that instead of exercising the right of election, the Goldberg Defendants filed objections against the Estate of Shlomo in a proceeding in Surrogate’s court to probate Shlomo’s Will, and commenced a separate action in New York State Supreme Court Kings County (Index 21521- 2003) on Dora’s behalf, against Shlomo’s Estate and his children, for the imposition of a constructive trust and a declaration of Dora’s rights in Shlomo’s property (hereinafter referred to as the “constructive trust action).” The Supreme Court Kings  County action was transferred to Surrogates Court in October 2003. Dora died on November 28, 2008 during an ongoing dispute with Shlomo’s Estate over the legality of their marriage. She died without exercising her right of election. ”

It is alleged that the Goldberg Defendants failed to take adequate party and nonparty discovery and otherwise prepare the constructive trust action for trial prior to the discovery cut-off. On June 12, 2015, the constructive trust action was stricken from the trial calendar after the Goldberg Defendants informed the Kings County Surrogate that they could not try the action due to a scheduling conflict and sought an adjournment. Plaintiff alleges that when the Goldberg Defendants neglected the action and failed to move to restore the action to the trial calendar, the defendants in the action moved to dismiss the action for failure to prosecute.”

“Plaintiff has shown that the Goldberg Defendants failed to follow the proper procedure required under EPTL §5-1.1-A[d][1] which provides the procedure to exercise the right of election and specifically states: “Written notice of such election shall be served upon any personal representative in the manner herein provided, or upon a person named as Executor in a will on file in the surrogate’s court in a case where such will has not yet been admitted to probate, and the original thereof shall be filed and recorded, with proof of service, in the surrogate’s court in which such letters were issued within six months from the date of the issuance of letters but in no event later than two years from the date of decedent’sdeath … ” (Emphasis added) (McKinney’s Consol. Laws of New York Annot., vol.17B, EPTL §5-1.1-A) There was a continuous attorney-client relationship between the Goldberg Defendants and Dora and her estate from March of 2003 through March 14, 2013 when they were first substituted by Nicholas Kowalchyn, Esq .. Plaintiff relies on correspondence and the retainer agreement to show that the Goldberg Defendants were aware of their responsibility of properly exercising Dora’s right of election (Mot. Exhs. 6, 7, 9 and 10).
Plaintiff has shown that the Goldberg Defendants proximately caused her damage. ”

“The Goldberg Defendants fail to provide proof in opposition to partial summary judgment on plaintiffs claims of their malpractice in the constructive trust action. The Goldberg Defendants’ representation was also continuous in the constructive trust action c:ommenced in May of 2003 through January 2016 when the Goldberg Defendants withdrew as counsel. The May 10, 2016 Decision and Order of Kings County Surrogate S. Johnson, states: “in the month since Ms. Krigsman retained Greenfield Stein & Senior, the firm has developed this matter to a greater extent than prior counsel did in thirteen years of representation.” (Mot. Exh. 35). The Goldberg Defendants provide no proof that the delay and failure to obtain discovery in the constructive trust action was the fault of other attorneys. Ultimately dismissal of the constructive trust action was due solely to their lack of proper representation, further warranting partial summary judgment on liability to plaintiff. ”

 

 

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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.