Meralla v Goldenberg ; 2011 NY Slip Op 08656 ; Decided on November 29, 2011 ; Appellate Division, First Department presents an unusual exception to the rule that a criminal defendant may not sue his criminal defense attorneys. In essence, plaintiff claims serial acts of ineffective assistance of counsel, both at the trial and at
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.
Unjustly Convicted, State Claim Dismissed, Legal Malpractice Active
Client in this case has had some bad turns. Unjustly convicted of a crime, imprisoned, exonerated, and then the suit against NYS is dismissed. Client sues attorney for failing to file "documentary" evidence in support of the NYS suit. At last, Supreme Court denies dismissal and the AD affirms.
In Gioeli v Vlachos ; 2011…
A Trip Through Civil Court, the Appellate Term and US District Court on a Legal Malpractice Case
Pro-se litigants on both sides is often a recipe for long lasting litigation. In this Landlord-Tenant case, one might say it went viral. Starting with a garden or varietal L&T case, an appeal to the Appellate Term followed, then a pro-se action in EDNY, and then a case in civil court. In the end, plaintiffs…
Dismissals, CPLR 3216 and Legal Malpractice
Granted, Cadichon v Facelle ; 2011 NY Slip Op 08447 ; Decided on November 21, 2011 ; Court of Appeals ; Pigott, J. is a medical malpractice case, but it could have easily morphed into a legal malpractice case. The Court of Appeals’ decision on dismissals under CPLR 3216 is highly likely to arise in…
Discovery in a Legal Malpractice Case
When is a medical record discoverable, in general, and specifically, when are medical records from an "underlying injury" discoverable in a legal malpractice case? One answer is set forth in Paliouras v Donohue ; 2011 NY Slip Op 08736 ; Decided on November 29, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Second Department. The rule is simple…they are discoverable…
Fallout from the Mortgage Mess and Legal Malpractice
The first thing that should be said is that this is not a legal malpractice case; it is, however, a breach of fiduciary duty case. A agrees with Plaintiff that plaintiff will lend her name to two real estate transactions to purchase one family homes, and A will rent them out, collect rent, and pay…
Who Was Responsible for a $ 60 Million Dreier Loss and Was it Legal Malpractice?
In a word, no, and the law firm who gave an opinion letter is not responsible. In Fortress Credit Corp. v Dechert LLP 2011 NY Slip Op 08626; Decided on November 29, 2011 ;
Appellate Division, First Department we see Dechert LLP obtain a reversal of Supreme Court’s decision and dismissal. Here are the facts…
Dead Man’s Statute and Legal Malpractice
This case was brought against the estate of an attorney, and claims legal malpractice. One sometimes wonders how the family of a deceased attorney picks up the pieces of the practice, turns what assets remain (especially cases in situ) into something of value, hands the cases off to other attorneys, and closes out that portion…
Unjust Conviction and Legal Malpractice
Sometimes a legal malpractice complaint is difficult to understand and sometimes it is plain as day. This case seems to be an example of the plain variety. Gioeli v Vlachos ;2011 NY Slip Op 08559 Decided on November 22, 2011 Appellate Division, Second Department .
‘Here, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants committed legal…
Family Law, Missing Pages and Judiciary Law 487
This was a divorce case, and the couple had a business. What was the business worth? How was it to be split? Was there an appraisal? Strumwasser v Zeiderman ; 2011 NY Slip Op 32971(U); October 18, 2011; Supreme Court, New York County; Docket Number: 113524/10
Judge: Joan A. Madden is a case in which…