Some courts hold that any claim against a “learned professional” must be analyzed via the lens of malpractice, legal, medical or professional.  This implies certain statutes of limitation, certain obligations of a professional and other differences between the professional and the lay person.  Here, in Sutherland v Fitzpatrick  2020 NY Slip Op 30029(U)  January 2, 2020
Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 2090/2018 Judge: Lara J. Genovesi. the court is willing to allow those boundaries to become blurred.  Some of the claims are against the opposing attorney for representations made in a contract negotiation setting, some are for work performed thereafter, and some are alleged in regular negligence terms for work performed as an attorney.

“This action arises from plaintiffs purchase of the premises at 4029 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, New York, a restaurant/tavern formerly known as the Dugout South. Plaintiff, through Access Unlimited Corporation, purchased the property from Let the Good Times Roll, LLC (the seller). In this transaction, plaintiff was represented by a James D. Bonamassa, Esq. Defendant, Brian Sutherland, represented the seller.
Plaintiff understood the restaurant to have both an indoor and outdoor bar in the patio area. However, the outdoor “Tiki Bar” on the patio was not operating at the time of the negotiations. Plaintiff stated that in the spring of 2015, the seller told him that the outdoor bar was temporarily closed due to a property line dispute with the attorney’s office, located adjacent to the premises. According to plaintiff, this was confirmed by
defendant. Plaintiff believed that the outdoor bar could resume  operations once it was properly permitted (see NYSCEF Doc.# 32, Plaintiffs Affidavit in Opposition”

“On September 6, 2015 and September 9, 2015, complaints were filed by the community board regarding plaintiff’s use of the outdoor bar and patio area of the premises. On September 24, 2015, defendant submitted a letter to the Community Board, with an amended application, stating that plaintiff was withdrawing the portion of its application for a liquor license for the patio area. On October 8, 2015, the Community Board withdrew its objections to the liquor license application. On November 9, 2015, liquor license #1287661 was issued to the premises for the indoor areas.”

“As an initial matter, as plaintiff alleged “that the defendant made
misrepresentations of present facts that were collateral to the contract and served as an inducement to enter into the contract, a cause of action alleging fraudulent inducement is not duplicative of a breach of contract cause of action” (Did-it.com, LLC v. Halo Grp., Inc., 174 A.D.3d 682, 102 N.Y.S.3d 687 [2 Dept., 2019], citing Greenberg v. Meyreles,
155 A.D.3d 1001, 66 N.Y.S.3d 297 [2 Dept., 2017]). Here, accepting all the facts alleged in the complaint as true and according plaintiff the benefit of every favorable inference, plaintiff sufficiently plead a cause of action for fraudulent inducement.

The second amended complaint states that defendant represented that the premises had a liquor license for the patio area and that his prior affiliation would enable defendant to streamline the application process and get plaintiff a liquor license for the patio area. Plaintiff relied on this promise when purchasing and renovating the property. Defendants do not dispute that the premises never had a liquor license for the patio area. In fact, defendant alleges that plaintiff was aware of that fact, based on his testimony in the Richmond County action (see Memorandum of Law in Support at p 2), which was provided herein (see Notice of Motion, Exhibit 14).”

“Here, plaintiff’s fifth cause of action in the second amended complaint is not plead with specificity. Given the inconsistency in the prior pleadings and the arguments made herein, it is unclear what cause of action plaintiff attempts to state. To the extent that plaintiff’s fifth cause of action alleges legal malpractice or negligent  misrepresentation, it is insufficiently plead. It is undisputed that plaintiff retained defendants to procure liquor licenses for the premises. Although plaintiff specifically plead the existence of that
relationship in his third cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty, the fifth cause of action is silent as to the nature of the relationship between plaintiff and defendant. It neither states that a privity-like relationship or an attorney-client relationship existed. It further fails to allege that plaintiff would have been successful in getting a liquor license for the outside patio and would not have incurred financial damages, but for defendant’s negligence. However, to the extent that the fifth cause of action alleges general negligence, affording the complaint liberal construction, plaintiff sufficiently plead the
existence of a duty, breach, causation and damages. Accordingly, that branch of defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s fifth cause of action for “negligence” is denied. ”

 

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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.