For this fine October day, we employ a baseball catch-phrase. Defendants moved for summary judgment saying that plaintiffs could not prove at least one of the elements of legal malpractice. Plaintiffs demonstrated that they could prove at least one of their claims. Result? The case went on to settlement. Smith v Kaplan Belsky Ross Bartell,
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.
Another “Satisfaction” Dismissal of a Legal Malpractice Case
Would a medical malpractice case be dismissed because the patient said (when coming out of anesthesia) that the surgeon seemed great? Would an accounting malpractice case be dismissed when the client said that the numbers looked good? No. But legal malpractice cases (all in the matrimonial area) are being dismissed when the client is told…
False Answers and Lawyering Did Not Implicate Judiciary Law 487
Judiciary Law 487 is the lawyer deceit common law, imported from the Magna Carta era. It is the oldest Anglo-American common law, and has recently been the subject of several NYS Court of Appeals rulings. In Kuruwa v 130E. 18 Owners Corp. 2014 NYSlipOp 06880 [121 AD3d 472]
October 9, 2014 Appellate Division, First…
This is a Complicated Area of the Law…Maybe, use an Attorney?
Clients suing pro-se took two appeals from the denial of a motion for a default judgment. Second appeal, which ate up quite a bit of time was dismissed, since one may not appeal from denial of a motion to re-argue. Sometimes, even when you are suing an attorney, it just makes sense to hire an…
The Fluid Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice
We’ve written over and over that the statute of limitations in legal malpractice is 3 years pursuant to CPLR 214(6) and aside from continuing representation, there is no possible extension. There is no discovery statute of limitations, and the statute is commenced when the mistake is made. We have been absolutely solid on that until…
Strong on the Mistakes Made, but Weak on the “But For” Part
As is true in a large percentage of legal malpractice cases, there is strong evidence that the attorneys departed from good and accepted practice (a “mistake”). Here, in Iannucci v Kucker & Bruh, LLP 2015 NY Slip Op 51490(U) Decided on October 7, 2015 Supreme Court, Kings County
Rivera, J., there are indications that Plaintiff…
Dueling Versions of an Accident Precludes Summary Judgment
This is a fairly simple and straightforward legal malpractice case. Worker falls from a ladder while working on an electrical light during construction. Law firm fails to sue the owner, which in this case is the Dormitory Authority of the State of NY. Nevertheless, summary judgment fails for both sides. Here is the story in …
The Strict Rule of Privity in a Legal Malpractice – Estates Case
Fleisher v Ballon Stoll Bader & Nadler, PC 2015 NY Slip Op 31855(U) October 5, 2015 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 158302/2012 Judge: Joan M. Kenney is another iteration of how difficult it is to sue an estates (or in this case a Medicaid planning) attorney. On its face, the case seems simple. …
A “Conveniently Tailored” Legal Malpractice Complaint is Dismissed
Plaintiffs run a marina, and are hounded by the Town of Carmel. Apparently the Town does not like how they are running the marina. The problem for the town is that it does not have jurisdiction over the marina. Hence, its criminal and civil zoning cases are defective. Plaintiffs resist for years and then sue…
The Rarest of Legal Malpractice Cases
A successful criminal defense legal malpractice case is the rarest form of the species. Meralla v Goldenberg 2015 NY Slip Op 01873 [126 AD3d 449] March 5, 2015 Appellate Division, First Department has everything that the criminal defendant needs. As the Court of Appeals has repeatedly held, “In order to open the door for even…