Scott v Fields ; 2011 NY Slip Op 05043 ; Decided on June 7, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Second Department  is not the first mortgage-legal malpractice case, but it appears to be the most extensively written 2d department opinion in one.  Here, as in most mortgage fraud cases, there is a straw buyer, the belief that owner is getting their house saved for them, and disaster.  Plaintiff brought the case a few months too late, and legal malpractice is dismissed on the statute of limitations.
"The plaintiff alleges that the defendants conspired to defraud her of her real property by causing her to believe that she was refinancing the mortgage on her home when, in actuality, she was conveying her property to the defendant Sherran Fields. In the complaint filed on March 25, 2009, the plaintiff asserted causes of action sounding in conversion, conspiracy, fraud, implied contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and malpractice. The Supreme Court granted those branches of the separate motions of the defendants Kecia J. Weaver and Kecia J. Weaver, P.C. (hereinafter together Weaver), and the defendants Stella Azie and Stella Azie, P.C. (hereinafter together Azie), which were to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against each of them pursuant to CPLR 3211. The Supreme Court also denied that branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3025(b) for leave to amend the complaint. We affirm the order insofar as appealed from."

The remaining two causes of action asserted against Weaver, alleging breach of fiduciary duty and professional malpractice, are time-barred. The statute of limitations for a breach of fiduciary duty cause of action depends on the substantive remedy which the plaintiff seeks (see Loengard v Santa Fe Indus., 70 NY2d 262). Where the relief sought is equitable in nature, the statute of limitations is six years, and where the relief sought is purely monetary, the statute of limitations is three years (see Monaghan v Ford Motor Co., 71 AD3d 848). Here, the cause of action against Weaver alleging breach of fiduciary duty seeks purely monetary damages, and, under the circumstances, a three-year statute of limitations applies. The claimed breach occurred during the closing on November 25, 2005. As such, the cause of action to recover damages for breach of fiduciary duty is time-barred insofar as asserted against Weaver (see CPLR 3211[a][5]). Similarly, the cause of action to recover damages for professional malpractice were also properly dismissed insofar as asserted against Weaver. The statute of limitations for a legal malpractice claim is three years (see CPLR 214[6]; Tsafatinos v Lee David Auerbach, P.C., 80 AD3d 749). The alleged legal malpractice occurred on November 25, 2005, and, as such, the claim of professional negligence, i.e., legal malpractice, is time-barred (see CPLR 3211[a][5]). Contrary to the plaintiff’s contention, the continuous representation doctrine is inapplicable. The complaint did not allege there was a mutual understanding that Weaver’s legal representation of the plaintiff would continue after the closing (cf. Lytell v Lorusso, 74 AD3d 905). "