Privity, a requirement rather unique to legal malpractice cases in tort, is the reason that the individuals in this case are out, while the entity remains in the case. It had privity, but they did not. Leggiadro, Ltd. v Winston & Strawn, LLP 2014 NY Slip Op 05048 Decided on July 3, 2014
Appellate Division
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.
Is This Legal Malpractice In Contract or Is It A Tort?
We have recently written about the conversion of legal malpractice from a tort to a contact action, and some of the changes that have been occasioned. Here, in Salazar v Sacco & Fillas, LLP
2014 NY Slip Op 00980 [114 AD3d 745] February 13, 2014 Appellate Division, Second Department the Court goes to some length…
July 4th
We’re off celebrating. Have a great 4th of July!
The Rare Legal Malpractice Case Lacking Privity
It is very very rare, but here is a case in ""the narrow exception of fraud, collusion, malicious acts or other special circumstances" under which a cause of action alleging attorney malpractice may be asserted absent a showing of privity (Ginsburg Dev. Cos., LLC v Carbone, 85 AD3d 1110, 1112 [2011]"
Mr. San, LLC v …
No Goose-Gander Problem in Legal Malpractice
ALBANY: Loss of freedom for a tort plaintiff occasioned by the extension of his probation arising from a criminal arrest and the resulting emotional and psychological harm are compensible. Same thing for a legal malpractice plaintiff? Not compensible. Dombrowski v Bulson
[19 NY3d 347] May 31, 2012 Lippman, Ch. J. Court of Appeals.
Landon …
A Complete Loss for Plaintiffs
Rochester: The course of litigation can be twisted, and early decisions often cause later havoc. Such is the case in this 4th Department case. Wright v Shapiro 2012 NY Slip Op 08964 [101 AD3d 1682] December 21, 2012 Appellate Division, Fourth Department tells us that plaintiff lost one position after another, ending with a…
Attorney wears 3 Hats, Problems Ensue
Seller of real estate has a building with a 50 year lease ending. Chase Bank has the lease, and long ago subleased the property for a profit. Buyer says that he never saw the leases, and that $3750 per month is just not enough to run the building.
Attorney admits that he was sellers’ attorney…
When Is A Release Not Really A Release?
Litigants get together to buy a restaurant. Problems arise, and a legal malpractice action is commenced. The proceeds over which the litigants argue arose from a legal malpractice case. The attorney successfully sued had failed to tell his clients that the attorney’s friend owned the property next door to a restaurant the clients were buying…
Moving To Dismiss Without the Documents in Legal Malpractice
A large number of legal malpractice cases are dismissed at the beginning on CPLR 3211 motions. We believe that legal malpractice cases are overrepresented in these dismissals. Endless Ocean, LLC v Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo 2014 NY Slip Op 00087 [113 AD3d 587] January 8, 2014 Appellate Division, Second Department is…
More Lessons in Legal Malpractice from Red Zone
Red Zone LLC v Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 2014 NY Slip Op 04570 Decided on June 19, 2014 Appellate Division, First Department is the latest wow legal malpractice case, since it ended in a $ 17.2 million award, and is sure to be the largest Legal Malpractice award of the year. Yesterday we…