In what appears to us to be a novel theory of law, Plaintiff in Olabopo v Scola   2017 NY Slip Op 30826(U)   April 21, 2017   Supreme Court,   New York County Docket Number: 157461/2016   Judge: Robert D. Kalish seems to be suing because Defendant attorneys did not take the case.  This is a different situation from (what frequently occurs in Med Mal cases) when the attorney takes the case on “investigation” and then spends 2+ years sitting on the case only to say, “no thanks.”  Here, there is no argument that the statute of limitations was compromised.

“The Plaintiff alleges in Paragraph 5 of his complaint that the Defendants “negligently and discriminatorily failed to prosecute a case 1 for the Plaintiff on account of his race, religion and perceived gender”. The Plaintiff further alleges in Paragraph 6 of his complaint that that based upon the Defendants’ failure to represent Plaintiff in the federal action that the Defendants are liable for “breach of fiduciary duty”, “legal malpractice”, and “violation of section 1981, NYC and NY State Hum an Rights Law”. However the Plaintiff fails to set forth in his complaint any facts to form a basis for his the claims as alleged in in paragraph 6. “”This presumably refers to a federal action brought by the Plaintiff pro se claiming police brutality and other claims, which is presumably presently pending in federal court. This is the basis of the underlying action, wherein the Plaintiff claims that the Defendants refused to represent him in the federal action. ”

“Upon review of the Plaintiff’s pleadings, the Court finds that the Plaintiff has failed to present any factual basis for any of the Plaintiffs claims. In particular, the Plaintiff has not presented any factual basis to show that an attorney client legal relationship existed between the Plaintiff and the Defendants. Further, there are no factual allegations indicating that the Defendants did anything other than refuse to represent the Plaintiff in his federal action. “