Island Consol. v Grassi & Co., Certified Public Accountants PC 2025 NY Slip Op 30094(U) January 7, 2025 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 451469/2023 Judge: Margaret A. Chan came as somewhat of a surprise to read. Not only did a statute of limitations defense in an accounting malpractice suit fail, but
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.
A Wealth Of Claims In This Accounting Malpractice Case
Island Consol. v Grassi & Co., Certified Public Accountants PC 2025 NY Slip Op 30094(U) January 7, 2025 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 451469/2023 Judge: Margaret A. Chan came as somewhat of a surprise to read. Not only did a statute of limitations defense in an accounting malpractice suit fail, but…
The Not Well Known Offset Exception to the Statute of Limitations
There is a not-well known exception to the statute of limitations found in CPLR 203(d) which is explained by the Appellate Division, Second Department in Getzel Schiff & Pesce, LLP v Shtayner 2024 NY Slip Op 06186 Decided on December 11, 2024.
“In November 2021, the plaintiff, Getzel Schiff & Pesce, LLP (hereinafter GSP), commenced…
A Judiciary Law 487 Claim Revived
Ostrander v Mullen 2024 NY Slip Op 06461 Decided on December 20, 2024
Appellate Division, Fourth Department is an example of what really sounds like a JL 487 kind of claim. It concerns allegations of a “forged” deed and attempts to use it in litigation.
“We agree with plaintiffs that Supreme Court erred in dismissing…
How A Law Firm Successfully Withdrew From a Case
Seibel v Scarola Zubatov Schaffin PLLC 2025 NY Slip Op 00067 Decided on January 07, 2025 Appellate Division, First Department is the story of how a law firm successfully withdrew from a case when the client became less than cooperative.
“The court properly granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint for legal malpractice…
A Fraud-Legal Malpractice Case Ends in Dismissal
Try to follow the events in 482 Tompkins Realty LLC v 482 Tompkins Capital LLC 2024 NY Slip Op 34520(U) December 18, 2024 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: Index No. 1322/18 Judge: Larry D. Martin and decide for yourself who might be at fault.
“Plaintiffs commenced this action to recover damages and equitable…
Strategy Defense Requires that the “Course of Action Was Reasonable As A Matter of Law”
Springs v L&D Law P.C. 2025 NY Slip Op 00032 Decided on January 02, 2025
Appellate Division, First Department discusses the “judgment rule” and how it should be applied in a legal malpractice setting.
“Plaintiff, a former New York City firefighter, first retained defendant Liggieri to represent him in a 2017 discrimination action in…
No Attorney-Client Relationship, No Continuous Representation
Chang v Yi Lin 2024 NY Slip Op 33338(U) September 20, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 161222/2023 Judge: Mary V. Rosado documents what is a not unusual situation. In a divorce setting, one of the parties often think that a single attorney is representing them as well as their spouse. …
Another Appearance of An Alternative Theory of the Statute of Limitations
Lee v Leeds, Morelli & Brown, P.C. 2024 NY Slip Op 06624 Decided on December 24, 2024 Appellate Division, Second Department is another case against the law firm of Leeds, Morelli & Brown, P.C., which developed a method of suing large companies on behalf of their employees, which drew at least two legal malpractice cases…
Continuous Representation and A Relationship of Trust and Confidence
Lower courts are more likely to dismiss legal malpractice cases on the statute of limitations than are Appellate courts. Dellwood Dev., Ltd. v Coffinas Law Firm, PLLC
2024 NY Slip Op 06184 Decided on December 11, 2024 Appellate Division, Second Department is such an example.
“The plaintiffs commenced this action against the defendants Coffinas Law…