Salyamov v Lyhovsky 2017 NY Slip Op 00929 Decided on February 7, 2017 Appellate Division, First Department is a very short, very direct reversal of summary judgment in which the AD reverses the opinion of Justice Wright, who has since been transferred from Supreme Court to Family Court. How could there have been such a
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 Couple of Interesting Doctrines In This Legal Malpractice Case
Legal malpractice is an arcane and complicated body of law. It has certain doctrines and principles that do not show up in other areas of the law. Some are found in medical malpractice and some are found nowhere else. The attorney-judgment rule is one doctrine that is shared with medical malpractice. The “but for “…
Why Exactly Was She Arrested?
In a puzzling case, Mohyi v Karen G. Brand, P.C. 2017 NY Slip Op 30185(U) January 27, 2017
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 157823/15 Judge: Debra A. James disposed of a Judiciary Law § 487 claim, allowing the case to continue on other claims. In this electronic age of papers, and the…
What Makes A Sustainable Legal Malpractice Case?
A good legal malpractice case alleges that there were departures from good practice, which led to a bad result and that but for the departure from good practice there would have been a better result, with ascertainable damages. This is exactly what plaintiff in Hall v Schrader, Israely, Deluca & Waters, LLP 2017 NY Slip…
The 2016 Judiciary Law 487 Series
Continuing our review of JL 487 cases from 2016 we come across the ironic gem of a JL 487 case which ends in plaintiff’s attorney being sanctioned for bringing a case which (in essence) seeks a sanction for deceit.
Lawrence Ripak Co., Inc. v Gdanski 2016 NY Slip Op 06805 [143 AD3d 862] October 19,…
All the 2016 Judiciary Law 487 Cases
Continuing to review the 2016 Judiciary Law § 487 Cases:
Titan Capital ID, LLC v Eshaghpour 2016 NY Slip Op 31925(U) October 13, 2016
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 650128/2016 Judge: O. Peter Sherwood
On Oral Argument the JL 487 was withdrawn on consent
Judiciary Law 487 Cases of 2016
We continue to review Judiciary Law §487 cases frp 2016:
19. Kaplan v Valley Natl. Bank 2016 NY Slip Op 51108(U) [52 Misc 3d 1210(A)] Decided on July 20, 2016 Supreme Court, Suffolk County Emerson, J.
“The plaintiff’s mother, Marilyn Kaplan, executed a will in 1994, leaving her interest in the home that she shared…
The Statute of Limitations Article in Today’s NYLJ
We’re proud to share our article in today’s New York Law Journal: The Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice.
Was it Strategy or Mistake?
Hindsight reasoning, roundly disliked by the judiciary is at the heart of legal malpractice. Legal malpractice always comes down to a backwards comparison of the hypothetical better outcome v. the actual outcome. This is the essence of the “but for” question. Would there have been a better economic outcome “but for” the mistakes (or acts)…
More Worker’s Compensation Problems and Professional Negligence
Just as in the N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Board v. Wang case, so Accredited Aides Plus, Inc. v Program Risk Mgt., Inc. 2017 NY Slip Op 00058 Decided on January 5, 2017 Appellate Division, Third Department Garry, J.P., J. deals with groups that have failed to make sure that their Workers’ Compensation programs actually follow generally…