Borukhov v Roth & Khalife, LLP 2026 NY Slip Op 00575 Decided on February 05, 2026
Appellate Division, First Department is a curious case with Sullivan Papain representing appellant. That set aside, the claim is that a personal injury case was litigated in NY when it could have been litigaged in Florida. Plaintiff says
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 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.
Imposter Real Estate Legal Malpractice (2)
We previously discussed Giannone v Silvestri 2026 NY Slip Op 30171(U) February 4, 2026 Supreme Court, Tioga County Docket Number: Index No. 2024-00064107
Judge: Eugene D. Faughnan and stopped after a discussion of the fraud claims against all. The attorney defendants (really third-party defendants) have special defenses to the claims that they allowed a fraudster…
Real Estate, An Imposter and the Fallout
Giannone v Silvestri 2026 NY Slip Op 30171(U) February 4, 2026 Supreme Court, Tioga County Docket Number: Index No. 2024-00064107 Judge: Eugene D. Faughnan is a classic fraudster story. Property owner acquires title to property in 2014 through a bankruptcy sale. People are brought to the property, told it is for sale, and sign a…
Judicial Estoppel in Effect If Not In Name
Judicial estoppel is an equitable doctrine which prevents a litigant from taking a position which is inconsistent with the position it previously took in earlier litigation. Another phrase might be “flip-flopping.”
In Lending Assets, LLC v Gerbi 2026 NY Slip Op 00472 Decided on February 03, 2026
Appellate Division, First Department defendants were able to…
Employee or Independent Contractor? It will make a Difference
It is our anecdotal experience that legal malpractice cases suffer a higher percentage of dismissals at the CPLR 3211 stage than do other types of claims, including medical malpractice. Park W. Exec. Servs., Inc. v Gallo Vitucci & Klar, LLP 2026 NY Slip Op 00428
Decided on January 29, 2026 Appellate Division, First Department is…
Who/What Might Be Liable For Violation of Judiciary Law 487?
Beyond that question, when does Melcher v. Greenberg Traurig, LLP, ‘s 6-year statute of limitation apply and when does Farage v. Ehrenberg’s three year statute apply?
In either setting Pergament v Government Employees Ins. Co. (“GEICO”) 2026 NY Slip Op 00267 Decided on January 21, 2026 Appellate Division, Second Department reminds us that only attorneys…
Disclaimer Trusts and Death
Will B. Sandler Disclaimer Trust v Swersky 2025 NY Slip Op 05909 [242 AD3d 625]
October 23, 2025 Appellate Division, First Department is a fairly unusual case in which an attorney was in business with a clieint for 30 years or more. When the attorney dieed, his interest in a particular LLC was a…
Privity, Legal Malpractice, Contribution and Indemnity
Real estate litigation and legal malpractice share a long brotherhood, and Chef Michael Barton Rest., LLC v Wknapp LTD. 2025 NY Slip Op 35003(U) December 23, 2025
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 654339/2022 Judge: Kathleen Waterman-Marshall is an example of how the lack of privity dooms the claim.
“This action arises…
What Happens When Counsel Wants To Withdraw and Plaintiff Objects?
Chen v Romona Keveza Collection LLC 2025 NY Slip Op 34953(U) December 16, 2025
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 153413/2020
Judge: Emily Morales-Minerva
Attorney wants out, client wants him to stay, huge payments and unauthorized use of a corporate credit card notwithstanding.
“Non-party movant Sutton Sachs Meyer PLLC, New York, NY…
Attorneys in a Landlord-Tenant Case Are Held In For a Judiciary Law 487 Claim
Calixto v A. Balsamo & Rosenblatt, P.C. 2025 NY Slip Op 06686 Decided on December 3, 2025 Appellate Division, Second Department is the story of a L & T law firm that had an apartment building client, and apparently kept starting cases, knowing that the claims were exagerated and that the apartment building was not…