Widlitz v Douglas Elliman, LLC Decided on April 19, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County
Bluth, J. is a quintessential New York City story. Basically, Plaintiff buys into a newly constructed building, does so long prior to completion of the building, asks and expects “city views” but gets a view of a brick wall. Whose
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.
Attorney Who Would Not Take Case Sued For Not Taking Case
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…
An Intemperate Act Adds Years to a Litigation
Litigation is difficult, and takes a long time. When snap decisions are made, they often add to the difficulties, not resolve them. Liew v Jeffrey Samel & Partners 2017 NY Slip Op 03165
Decided on April 26, 2017 Appellate Division, Second Department is an example. While the parties were muddling towards trial, a sudden dismissal…
More Contradictory Judiciary Law 487 Cases
Does a successfully pleaded Judiciary Law § 487 case require a conviction for a misdemeanor ? A recent Magistrate’s report in the Western District of New York strikingly says so. In Bounkhoun v. Barnes, the magistrate determined that no JL 487 case may lay without a misdemeanor conviction.
The First Department may not think…
How Will this Conviction Thing Shake Out?
Last week we reported a cataclysmic event in Judiciary Law 487. It was Magistrate Scott’s report and recommendation in Bounkhoun v. Barnes, 15-cv-631A. District Judge Richard Arcara is presiding over the case. He wrote: “Where does all of the above analysis leave plaintiff? Plaintiff has pled that defendants ignored her desire to settle…
https://blog.bluestonelawfirm.com/2017/04/uncategorized/5672/
We wrote about this case last week. Today the NYLJ writes an article. What is this all about, and is it an earthquake in the Judiciary Law § 487 world? Joel Stashenko writes: “A client dissatisfied with her attorneys’ work in a personal injury case cannot bring a legal misconduct claim under state Judiciary Law…
A New Take on Judiciary Law 487 (Part II)
Chandy Bounkhoun, Plaintiff, v. Steven E. Barnes, Esq. et al., Defendants. No. 15-CV-631A.
United States District Court, W.D. New York. April 11, 2017 is a stunning new decision from the Western District of New York. Magistrate Scott takes us from Medieval England to colonial times to look at the the criminal law underpinnings of…
A Completely New Take on Judiciary Law 487
Chandy Bounkhoun, Plaintiff, v. Steven E. Barnes, Esq. et al., Defendants. No. 15-CV-631A.
United States District Court, W.D. New York. April 11, 2017 is a stunning new decision from the Western District of New York. Magistrate Scott takes us from Medieval England to colonial times to look at the the criminal law underpinnings of…
Attorney Takes Very Difficult Case and Loses. Was This Malpractice?
Chapman Steamer Collective LLC v Jones 2017 NY Slip Op 30722(U) April 13, 2017
Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 501809/16 Judge: Ellen M. Spodek asks the question of what happens when an attorney takes on a very difficult case, offers the only (weak) defense and loses the case. Was the effort without any merit?…
In Name Only
Often, a Judiciary Law § 487 claim is mentioned, or even discussed, but not resolved in a case. Gerard v Cahill 2017 NY Slip Op 02779 Decided on April 12, 2017 Appellate Division, Second Department is such an example. A real estate dispute with overtones of fraud, there is a 487 claim. Was it decided?…