Servider v Law Offs. of Cervini, Ronemus & Vilensky 2024 NY Slip Op 30160(U)
January 12, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 161166/2022 Judge: Mary V. Rosado is a pro-se legal malpractice case which comes after plaintiff has settled a case, and then wriggled to get out of the settlement. These
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.
Do Attorney Fee Claims Generate Malpractice Defenses?
Attorney CLEs generally preach that attorneys should refrain from legal fee suits as they bring legal malpractice counterclaims. Wojcik Law Firm, P.C. v Mull 2024 NY Slip Op 00060 Decided on January 09, 2024 Appellate Division, First Department is a legal fee claim with a guarantee twist.
“
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Gerald…
An Unusual Conversion Claim Against An Attorney
Amid v Del Col 2024 NY Slip Op 00178 Decided on January 17, 2024 Appellate Division, Second Department is a common story. Plaintiff alleges that he hired the attorney, the attorney did little or no work, discontinued certain causes of action without consent and paid himself from the retainer fees without good cause or permission. …
Bankruptcy Did Not End the Representation
Eichengrun v Panasci 2024 NY Slip Op 00014 Decided on January 4, 2024
Appellate Division, Third Department is the story of a multiple representation real estate transaction going bad, then into bankruptcy and then back into foreclosure. Which, if any, of the attorneys may be liable?
“Plaintiff Green Oak Stockade View Apartments, LLC, of which…
A Rare Legal Malpractice Summary Judgment for Plaintiff
Rothstein v Krane LLP 2024 NY Slip Op 30016(U) January 3, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 157694/2017 Judge: Gerald Lebovits is that very rare species of summary judgment in a legal malpractice case in favor of plaintiff.
“On motion sequence 001, defendant Michael Steger moves, pursuant to CPLR 3212, for…
Three Lessons In One Short Decision
Lang v DiPaolo 2023 NY Slip Op 06519 Decided on December 20, 2023 Appellate Division, Second Department teaches three lessons in legal malpractice litigation in a one page decision. The three are: (1) alleging proximate cause, (2) Subsequent attorney principles, and (3) account stated.
“In May 2017, the plaintiff commenced this action against the defendants…
Judiciary Law 487 Not Implicated Here
In Warshaw Burstein, LLP v Colambda Tech., Inc. 2023 NY Slip Op 34435(U) December 14, 2023 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 150283/2023
Judge: Louis L. Nock the legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty counterclaims were upheld on a CPLR 3211 motion. Claims of Judiciary Law 487 were not.
“Plaitiff law…
Some Claims Are Well Pled, Some Not
Warshaw Burstein, LLP v Colambda Tech., Inc. 2023 NY Slip Op 34435(U) December 14, 2023 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 150283/2023
Judge: Louis L. Nock illustrates the oft repeated warning that attorney fee claims will always trigger a legal malpractice claim. Sometimes, as in this case, the legal malpractice claims pass…
Agreements To Agree and Legal Malpractice
In this 10-year old case, Mawere v Landau 2023 NY Slip Op 34446(U), December 8, 2023 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: Index No. 501184/12 Judge: Lawrence S. Knipel all claims are dismissed on summary judgment.
“Plaintiff commenced this action seeking, among other relief, damages for breach
of contract and breach of fiduciary duty stemming…
Judiciary Law 487 in 2023
We are pleased to present the link to a NYLJ article discussing Judiciary Law 487 in its present and historical context.
Happy Holidays!