It’s rare for the AD to start off a decision with a recap of two earlier appeals. In Dischiavi v Calli
2015 NY Slip Op 01116 Decided on February 6, 2015 Appellate Division, Fourth Department four different defense law firms have been making motions to dismiss, so far, without any success. On this third try
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.
Deceit in the Divorce World
Husband and wife live and love for a long time, then things descend into divorce. All of a sudden, money gifts from the in-laws turn into loans, and the husband is asked to repay her parents. He’s aghast, and fights back. Eventually wife agrees that these were not loans at all. Does the husband have…
Settlement After Threats and Legal Malpractice
Settlement brings the end of a litigation, and sometimes bliss. Other times settlement brings remorse. Parties must sometimes be pushed into settlements, and an inherent conflict between the attorney and the client might surface when their interests diverge at settlement.
In Salazar v Sacco & Fillas, LLP 2014 NY Slip Op 00980 [114 AD3d…
No Matter Whether it is Judiciary Las 487 or Legal Malpractice, You Still Need to Follow the Rules
The basic rules of summary judgment, well understood and well settled must be followed. Whether its the need for a person with knowledge to give an affidavit, or that you need to provide prima facie entitlement to get the court to look at your papers, the basics must be followed.
Cullin v Spiess 2014…
Pecuniary Loss in a Legal Malpractice Case
One of the recent limitations on legal malpractice cases has been a strict adherence to the need for pecuniary loss. The Court of Appeals held that even incarceration by itself was insufficient. Dombrowski v Bulson 2012 NY Slip Op 04203 [19 NY3d 347
]Here in Fountain v Ferrara 2014 NY Slip Op 03947 [118…
An All Around Loss for Plaintiff in an Account Stated Case
An account stated claim for fees is one in which the attorney says: "I’ve billed you, and sent invoices on a regular basis. You did not object. Since you did not object, you have agreed that the bills are fair. Now, pay them." Courts very often enforce this principal in favor of the attorney.
So…
Supreme Court Has Its Doubts; The Appellate Division Has None
Plaintiff brings a legal malpractice case against attorney and alleges that the attorney did not timely file a notice of appeal, that the underlying case was dismissed on discovery grounds ant that the mistake was by the attorney, and that the attorney failed to convey a settlement offer. Supreme Court considers the motion and finds…
Land, Lots of It, and Legal Malpractice
OK, so you own a home in the NY Metropolitan area, and have some land. Houses around here have a half-acre, or an acre or even 2-3 acres. That’s a lot of land around here. Now imagine you have so much land that you and the golf course next door are arguing over a mere 5…
Judiciary Law 487 as an Afterthought
Lawyers arguing over legal fees make up a surprising number of law suits. When one reads down the list of AD cases to be argued, the number of law firms as parties is striking. in Tassan v Pugatch & Nikolis 2014 NY Slip Op 33441(U) December 29, 2014 Supreme Court, Suffolk County Docket Number: 30031/2012 …
Legal Malpractice in the Settled Case
Judge Lewis of Supreme Court, Kings County decides a legal malpractice case coming from an motor vehicle negligence case. Defendant attorneys brought the case in Civil Court in which jurisdiction is limited to $25,000. They did not sue all the potential drivers and owners. Client took the case away from defendants and gave it to…