Not every attorney problem can be shoehorned into a Judiciary Law § 487 format.  US Suite LLC v Baratta, Baratta & Aidala LLP
2019 NY Slip Op 02837  Decided on April 16, 2019  Appellate Division, First Department is an example of a partially successful plaintiff’s case which fails on JL § 487.

“Plaintiffs’ complaint here, as supplemented, sufficiently states a cause of action that defendants aided and abetted another person’s removal of funds belonging to plaintiffs, hid the funds in their escrow account, and used those funds to pay the other person’s personal and business expenses (see DDJ Mgt., LLC v Rhone Group L.L.C., 78 AD3d 442, 443 [1st Dept 2010]).

Plaintiffs have sufficiently pled a cause of action for an accounting (Matter of Schneider, 131 AD3d 175, 182 [2d Dept 2015], citing Matter of Vagionis, 217 AD2d 175, 177 [1st Dept 1995]; NY St Bar Assn Comm on Prof Ethics Op 532, *2 [1981]). Defendants’ assertion that they have provided an accounting is of no avail, as the document provided is an unsworn, unverified spreadsheet prepared by an unidentified person, without explanation.

Plaintiff did not adequately plead a claim under the Debtor and Creditor Law. The claim pursuant to the Judiciary Law § 487 must also be dismissed, as the alleged deceit did not occur during a pending judicial proceeding (see Jacobs v Kay, 50 AD3d 526, 527 [1st Dept 2008]).”