A common thread to legal malpractice litigation in New York is real estate, and not coincidentally, landlord-tenant issues. Often these cases involve multi-million dollar losses. SJB RE Holdings, LLC v Gifford 2024 NY Slip Op 30924(U) March 21, 2024
Supreme Court, Saratoga County Docket Number: Index No. EF20233420 Judge: Richard A. Kupferman is an upstate
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 Storied Diner, A Fraud and Accounting Malpractice
1650 Broadway Assoc., Inc. v Sturm 2024 NY Slip Op 01864 Decided on April 04, 2024
Appellate Division, First Department Renwick, P.J. is the story of a Diner, a Family and Fraud.
“Plaintiff 1650 Broadway Associates, Inc. is the owner of the iconic Stardust Diner, a family business originally owned by Irving Sturm and plaintiff…
Would This Case Be Decided Differently Today?
Now that Urias v. Buttafuoco, has been decided by the Court of Appeals would Gelwan v De Ratafia 2023 NY Slip Op 32953(U) August 25, 2023 Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: Index No. 654525/2016 Judge: David B. Cohen have been decided differently as to the Judiciary Law 487 claim?
In Urias, the Court…
A Conflict Perhaps; Judiciary Law 487 Violation, No
Jones Law Firm, P.C. v J Synergy Green, Inc. 2024 NY Slip Op 31127(U) April 2, 2024
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 653730/2023 Judge: Lyle E. Frank illustrates the principle that while there may be a Code of Professional Conduct violation, there must be a proximate connection with pecuniary damages to…
Real Estate and Legal Malpractice in New York
Legal malpractice claims frequently arise over real estate. in Mandour v Rafalsky
2024 NY Slip Op 31086(U) April 1, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: Index No. 651819/2022 Judge: Andrea Masley there is the added (frequent) dispute between siblings with death and incompetency issues thrown in.
“Plaintiffs Nariman M. Mandour, as both beneficiary…
Unlike Attorneys, Sometimes a 6-Year Statute of Limitations for Architects
Under CPLR 214-6, and according to the ensuing court decisions, any claim against an attorney, whether purely in contract, in fraud or for professional negligence is subject to a 3-year statute of limitations. This legislative fix took place after the Court of Appeals permitted a 6-year statute of limitations in contract claims. For architects, it…
Accounting Firm v. Accountant’s Malpractice Defense Firm
It’s unusual to see a firm like Marcum LLP suing its attorneys. In this particular setting, the claim was rejected by the Appellate Division.
In Marcum LLP v L’Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini, L.L.P. 2023 NY Slip Op 06443 [222 AD3d 486] December 14, 2023 Appellate Division, First Department the accounting firm claimed that its…
A Moving Target in a Motion Picture
Serafini Releasing LLC v Gray 2024 NY Slip Op 30863(U) March 13, 2024
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 655579/2021
Judge: Melissa A. Crane is that rare New York legal malpractice case arising out of the making of a film. Here, Plaintiff has several scenarios at play against the attorney and, in…
A Bad Faith and Legal Malpractice Case Avoids Dismissal
The now bankrupt defendant in a personal injury case is suing her insurance carrier and her defense attorney after they failed to settle the case once summary judgment had been awarded to the injured party in Pergament v Government Empls. Ins. Co. (“GEICO”) 2024 NY Slip Op 01568 Decided on March 20, 2024 Appellate Division…
An Enormous Real Estate Legal Malpractice Case Almost Entirely Dismissed
Sebco Dev., Inc. v Siegel & Reiner, LLP 2024 NY Slip Op 50292(U) Decided on March 20, 2024 Supreme Court, Bronx County Gomez, J. is the kind of legal malpractice case that comes up often enough to support the idea that real estate in NYC is a paramount, driving economic force, and that the extensive…