Garcia v Polsky, Shouldice & Rosen, P.C.  2018 NY Slip Op 03339  Decided on May 9, 2018
Appellate Division, Second Department illustrates a common problem in legal representation.  Plaintiff is injured on the job, but may have a personal injury or product liability case as well.  Some firms specialize in WC work and don’t really do PI or Product liability work.  Client retains them and does not understand that the PI case will not be brought.  Then the statute runs.

Here, the case goes on against the law firm.

“”In an action to recover damages for legal malpractice, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the attorney failed to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession’ and that the attorney’s breach of this duty proximately caused plaintiff to sustain actual and ascertainable damages” (Rudolf v Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 NY3d 438, 442, quoting McCoy v Feinman, 99 NY2d 295, 301). “To establish causation, a plaintiff must show that he or she would have prevailed in the underlying action or would not have incurred any damages, but for the lawyer’s negligence” (Rudolf v Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 NY3d at 442).

Here, the law firm submitted documentary evidence in support of the motion establishing that its representation of the plaintiff was limited to his Workers’ Compensation claim. That submission did not utterly refute the plaintiff’s allegations, as augmented by his affidavit submitted in opposition to the motion, that the law firm gave him inaccurate legal advice. Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly denied that branch of the defendants’ motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) to dismiss the cause of action alleging legal malpractice insofar as asserted against the law firm.

Moreover, the complaint, as augmented by the plaintiff’s affidavit, sufficiently pleaded a cause of action to recover damages for legal malpractice against the law firm. The evidentiary submissions did not show that the material facts claimed by the plaintiff to be facts were not facts at all and that no significant dispute exists regarding them. Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly denied that branch of the defendants’ motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) to dismiss the cause of action alleging legal malpractice insofar as asserted against the law firm.”