Justice Ritholtz of Supreme Court, Queens County lays the issue out in the first sentence of the decision in 150 Centreville, LLC v Lin Assoc. Architects, PC 2013 NY Slip Op 23038 Decided on February 6, 2013 Supreme Court, Queens County Ritholtz, J. "The questions involved in this action are whether there should be any
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.
A Thoughtful Primer on Evidence and Summary Judgment
It’s medical malpractice which is something we don’t usually write about, but Justice Schlesinger’s opinion in this medical malpractice summary judgment opinion is well worth reading. Balzola v Giese 2013 NY Slip Op 30324(U) February 5, 2013 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 114205/2009 Judge: Alice Schlesinger slowly and thoroughly works it way through…
How One Legal Malpractice Plaintiff Lost Twice
Hsu v Liu & Shields LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 30291(U) February 7, 2013 Sup Ct, New York County
Docket Number: 400781/12 Judge: Richard F. Braun is the story of how one set of plaintiffs lost this case twice, in fact three times. Plaintiff is pro-se, and complains that he and other plaintiffs were the…
Two Law Firms and Their Attorneys Fight Over Who’s More Responsible
In Balkheimer v Spanton 2013 NY Slip Op 00715 Decided on February 6, 2013 Appellate Division, Second Department we see two law firms, and their stellar legal malpractice defense attorneys fighting over who is more responsible to plaintiff. In a situation such as this, we see the unusual (but not unprecedented) comedy of legal…
Pryor Cashman, the Coal Company and Legal Billing
The New York Law Journal reports a Pryor Cashman legal malpractice and billing case today. It’s a very big fee, and Judge Schweitzer decides for the law firm today in Pryor Cashman LLP v. U.S. Coal Corporation, Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 651908/2011.
"Plaintiff Pryor Cashman LLP moves, pursuant to CPLR 32…
Service of Process and the Recalcitrant Security Guard
You want to sue your attorney, and the security guard downstairs won’t let the process server up. The process server goes there several times, and fails to get upstairs. What is one to do?
Miller v Friedman 2013 NY Slip Op 30282(U) January 29, 2013 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 400833/12 Judge: Joan…
A Second Bite at the Legal Malpractice Apple
Defendant attorney represented buyer in a real estate transaction, in which she obtained only a part of what she expected to get. Who was at fault, the attorney or the title company? The Court decided that the title company was not responsible and the attorney went to trial. After trial, in which the buyer obtained…
Successive Summary Judgment Motions Not Permitted; Cause of Action Dismissed Anyway
This case appears to be a fee dispute with a healthy counterclaim. We glean that defendants waited until (and perhaps only because) they were sued for legal fees. They responded with a legal malpractice counterclaim. In Debevoise & Plimpton LLP v Candlewood Timber Group LLC
2013 NY Slip Op 00408 Decided on January 29, 2013  …
A Catalogue of Legal Malpractice Defenses, All Dismissed
Attorney is hired to represent funeral home for a disinterment. In the retainer agreement, it is specifically set forth that the attorney will also be representing the person requesting the disinterment. A $10,000 retainer is given, and the work begun. It ends successfully. When the bill is sent, the funeral home refuses to pay. We…
How Does One Law Firm Bring In Other Attorneys in a Legal Malpractice Case?
Millennium Imports LLC marketed a huge success in the vodka world, "Belvedere." Millennium was itself a golden child of the Louis Vuitton, Moet and Hennessy (LVMH) companies, so when a California winery that already had a wine called Belvedere claimed trade infringement, a small licensing fee of $ 30,000 per year was nothing to worry…