It’s rare, very rare, to come across what the Court thinks might be a novel question of law, especially in a legal malpractice setting. Generally, the triumvirate of claims found in a legal malpractice setting are legal malpractice, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty, In FTI Consulting, Inc. v CT Miami, LLC 2018
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 Terrible Injury, But Which Law Firm May Be Accountable?
We discussed Gilbo v Horowitz 2018 NY Slip Op 31844(U) July 31, 2018 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 158727/2017 Judge: Margaret A. Chan last week in the context of ripeness in a multiple -attorney setting. Beyond whether the case is ripe against prior attorneys while the underlying case is pending, is the question…
Judiciary Law 487 Has a Very High Hurdle to Clear
Many JL § 487 cases are brought; few get to be considered for damages and far fewer ever get to the trier of fact. Yerushalmi v Schoenfeld 2018 NY Slip Op 05623 Decided on August 1, 2018 Appellate Division, Second Department is an example.
“In 2002, Malka Yerushalmi (hereinafter Malka) commenced an action for a…
Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Overbilling
One of the most common reflexive decisions by courts is to dismiss a breach of contract as well as a breach of fiduciary duty as duplicitive of the cause of action for legal malpractice. If the claims of breach arise from the same facts and damages are similar then they are duplicitive. However, when there…
A Terrible Injury, Lots of Litigation Problems and It’s Still Too Early
Time tick by, constantly and rapidly. Gilbo v Horowitz 2018 NY Slip Op 31844(U) July 31, 2018
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 158727/2017 Judge: Margaret A. Chan is an example of how there can be a terrible injury, yet no clear legal malpractice landscape. Besides the confusion over which attorney might be responsible,…
Not A Huge Amount; Not Many Good Choices
Marder’s Antique Jewelry, Inc. v Bolton 2018 NY Slip Op 31828(U) July 31, 2018
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 152926/2012 Judge: Arlene P. Bluth is an excellent example of how a “legal malpractice” case becomes an unsuccessful legal malpractice case. Practitioners and the general public are quick (and often accurate) in pointing out…
Courts Simply Do Not Like Judiciary Law 487
There are very few successful Judiciary Law § 487 cases. Courts stretch and bend to find a way around what appears to be actual deceit by attorneys. Take Matneja v Zito 2018 NY Slip Op 05298 Decided on July 18, 2018 Appellate Division, Second Department as an example. Here it is alleged that a law…
Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Immunity in Professional Malpractice Cases
Litigants often want to sue a court-appointed official, whether it be a guardian ad litem, an attorney for the child, an accounting expert or another kind of expert practitioner who is inserted into the case. When those practitioners are attorneys, the question of privity arises; when they are not, the question of whether they are…
Even This Is Not A Good Judiciary Law 487 Case
Judiciary Law § 487 is an ancient part of the common law. It was enacted only 30 years after the Magna Carta. That’s as old as it gets in Anglo-American law. It is sparsely uphold and sparingly applied. Jean v. Chinitz 2018 NY Slip Op 05521 Decided on July 26, 2018 Appellate Division, First Department…
The Statute of Limitations is Looming…But It Still May Be Too Early!
What does one do when there is a potential legal malpractice claim against a former attorney, yet the underlying case has not yet been dismissed, though it is mortally wounded? Does one wait for the inevitable end of the case and then claim that it is not (now) too late to sue the former attorney? …