Plaintiff hired attorneys to help transfer the rights and title to a movie being produced. From there, all went wrong, and at this time, plaintiff may not even own the film anymore. How did this happen, and why was the legal malpractice case lost? In Candela Entertainment, Inc. v Davis & Gilbert, LLP 2013
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.
Golly ! It Wasn’t Me!
Plaintiff seems to be ascendant at this point in the case, but proof of a 19 year old trip and fall may be difficult in the extreme. A trial will ensue, after plaintiff’s rare successful motion for partial summary judgment was granted in Cox v. McKernan.
In today’s New York Law Journal Christine Simmons…
Three Different Ways to Lose a Legal Malpractice Case
We wince to see cases lost on procedural grounds, much less legal malpractice cases. Here, in Northern Source, LLC v Kousouros 2013 NY Slip Op 03607 Decided on May 21, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department it seems that plaintiff failed to file a note of issue after a written demand, failed to respond to…
Where is the Line, and When was it Crossed?
How far may an attorney go when dealing with a client before the line is crossed and extreme emotional distress may be charged? It almost never happens, but In Blumencranz v Botter 2012 NY Slip Op 32089(U) Sup Ct, Nassau County Docket Number: 15489/11 Judge: Joel K. Asarch we see behavior that is "utterly failing…
Starting the Case and Legal Malpractice
Commencement of a new case and the service of process are anachronistic to New York, and provide a wealth of potential problems for the experienced practitioner. Imagine how confusing it is to the pro-se plaintiff. In any event, were one to query a group of experienced attorneys, we predict that a shockingly large number would…
Raced Based Case Analysis in Legal Malpractice
Courts are ready to consider dismissal of legal malpractice cases, especially when the motion for dismissal is predicated on the "but for" portion of the legal malpractice formula. Put another way, even on thinly produced evidence, and before there is any discovery, courts are willing and able to determine whether plaintiff could have succeeded in…
A Puzzling Decision in Legal Malpractice
As the economic times turn around, we are still seeing the results of the mortgage bubble. in Ferreira v Citiwide Real Estate & Mgt. Co. 2013 NY Slip Op 50745(U) Decided on May 8, 2013
Supreme Court, Queens County Kitzes, J. we see a typical issue. What happens when the system spins, and the owner is…
Sometimes It’s Just Too Late to Start That Case
Plaintiff’s mother brought a personal injury case against the City of New York for plaintiff from an injury of December 20, 2002. She retained defendant attorneys to represent her. She discharged the attorneys via a "Consent to Change Attorneys" in August , 2006. She brought the legal malpractice caseFleyshman v Suckle & Schlesinger, PLLC …
It’s a Three Year Statute of Limitation, No Matter What You Call It
Some years ago the Legislature overruled the Court of Appeals, and passed CPLR 214(6). That statute was interpreted to say that all claims against an attorney (some other professionals) were subject to a 3 year statute, whether the claim was made in negligence or contract.
Here, in Walter v Castrataro 2012 NY Slip Op 02676…
Legal Malpractice as an Unexplained Pain in the Neck
When clients depend upon the expertise of an attorney, and then end up with a bad result, they can successfully plead legal malpractice. Does a client settle the personal injury case or litigate on? Depending on how the attorney advises the client, there may or may not be legal malpractice. Here is an example.
Polanco …