It as common as rain. Law firms hire clerical or service organizations to do things for the law firm. File papers, serve parties, perfect a security lien and file the UCC-1. What happens to the law firm, and the client, when things go wrong. Here, in Gutarts v Fox 2013 NY Slip Op 01492 Decided
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.
All the Wrong Kind of Damages in Legal Malpractice
For policy reasons New York Courts limit the types of damages that might be awarded in legal malpractice. Basically, as the NY Court of Appeals recently reiterated, only pecuniary loss may be the subject of legal malpractice litigation. This specifically and totally leaves out any type of emotional damages. Nevertheless people suffer these injuries when their attorneys…
A Pro-Se Victory for Defendant in this Legal Malpractice Case
The question of standing is frequently seen in shareholder-corporation cases and often leads to legal malpractice claims afterwards. In Lieblich v Pruzan 2013 NY Slip Op 01497 Decided on March 12, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department we see the converse.
"This is an action for, inter alia, legal malpractice arising from defendant attorney’s representation…
A Mixed Bag of Accounting Malpractice Time Limits
New York State Workers’ Compensation Bd. v SGRisk, LLC 013 NY Slip Op 50338(U) Decided on March 1, 2013 Supreme Court, Albany County Platkin, J. is an accounting malpractice and fraud case, but it has implications for legal malpractice, and the Court explains how causes of action for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and…
It’s the Client, Not its Shareholders in Legal Malpractice
Client is faced with a buy-out situation in which it must move a store. Client hires attorneys to negotiate the buy-out and calculate how costs and taxes will affect the buy-out price. The attorneys do not calculate all taxes, and the buy-out price does not cover the taxes. Is this legal malpractice?
A Bare Bones Dismissal and Affirmance
The Appellate Division, Second Department is a busy place and provides many many decisions every year. Many of them are definite, but sparse on detail. In Montero v Cohen , 2013 NY Slip Op 01382 Decided on March 6, 2013 Appellate Division, Second Department we see that this was a matrimonial case, we see that it…
Sounds Like a Discovery Statute of Limitations Case
The legal malpractice statute of limitations commences when the mistake is made. It runs for three years from that date, although it may be tolled by the continuous representation doctrine. That continuous representation doctrine requires that the attorney and client agree that more work needs to be done, that the attorney continues to work on…
An Unusual Twin Legal Malpractice Case Hobbles On
Dealy-Doe-Eyes Maddux v Schur 2013 NY Slip Op 01309 Decided on February 28, 2013 Appellate Division, Third Department is the remaining portion of a twin legal malpractice case that has suffered grievous injury. "Plaintiff commenced two legal malpractice actions against defendant, the second of which proceeded to trial and was dismissed by Supreme Court…
A Surprisingly Successful Judiciary Law 487 Pleading
Its becoming harder to discern when a Judiciary Law 487 pleading will withstand a motion to dismiss on the pleadings. In Cohen v Kachroo 2013 NY Slip Op 30416(U) February 22, 2013
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 111735/10 Judge: Eileen A. Rakower the motion to dismiss was denied, unfortunately without significant comment…
A Clear and Present Danger to the Legal Malpractice Defendant
Coverage under a legal malpractice insurance policy, is the sole reason for paying premiums, and probably one good reason that litigating attorneys fall asleep at night. They are handling multi-million dollar cases, earning big fees and (hopefully) helping their clients. If it all goes wrong, and in the field of human events there are always mistakes…