A recent case, reported on Lexis but not yet entered in the NYS Court Appellate Division web site discusses the interrelation of defamation and legal malpractice. In DANY DAVID, Plaintiff, – against – MICHAIL Z. HACK, WILLIAM J. O’MAHONEY and QUADRINO & SCHWARTZ, Defendants. INDEX NO. 103705/11; 103705/11; SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK
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.
Mistakes and Mistakes in a Medical Malpractice Case. Is there Legal Malpractice?
A potential client comes to the legal malpractice practitioner and says that a good medical malpractice case was lost at trial because of errors by their attorney. They tell you that their expert was precluded, and that the case was lost against all defendants. What’s more, the defendants were permitted to ask hypothetical questions that…
Continuous and Intermittent Representation in Legal Malpractice
InByron Chem. Co., Inc. v. Groman; 2009 NY Slip Op 03465 ; Decided on April 28, 2009 ; Appellate Division, Second Department plaintiff employer sued its attorneys for an employee benefit provision which was drafted by attorney firm 1, which was then taken over by attorney firm 2. At issue was whether the…
In Pari Delicto and Legal Malpractice
In a Court of Appeals case which limits potential liability, or more correctly put, continues a limit of potential liability of a corporation’s outside professional advisors, including attorneys. In Kirschner v Kpmg Llp ; 2010 NY Slip Op 07415 ; Court of Appeals ; Read, J. we see a discussion of this accountant’s malpractice question:…
What is a Rule 137 Dispute?
One has to shake the head and ask why all the effort goes into a law suit that will [or is so likely to] fail? The question is multiplied when plaintiff is an attorney seeking fees.
Rule 137 seems pretty comprehensive and exacting. Attorney who seeks a fee needs to serve th client with an…
Retaining Liens and Unexpected Consequences in Legal Malpractice
Here is a short, pungent and dispositive decision by the Appellate Division, Second Department in Zito v Fischbein Badillo Wagner Harding ; 2011 NY Slip Op 00285 ; Decided on January 20, 2011 Appellate Division, First Department.
We’ve seen a "charging lien" utilized as res judicata against a subsequent legal malpractice case, but the…
The Judgment Rule in Other Settings than Legal Malpractice
in legal malpractice, the judgment rule holds that an attorney may not be held liable for choices of strategy whether they turn out successful or not. These choices may be in the selection of witnesses, in the selection of experts, in the choice of questions to ask witnesses, and, as we see in this criminal…
Where Does a Professional Malpractice Cause Arise?
In this non-legal but professional malpractice case, the question of which state law applies is answered decisively. Rose v Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. ; 2011 NY Slip Op 06374 ; Decided on August 30, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Second Department concerns negligent quoting of premiums in an insurance transaction. The parties debated a "contact"…
Long Arm Jurisdiction and Legal Malpractice
When are limited NY contacts enough to allow an attorney from New Jersey to be sued in New York? The question is easy to answer in the abstract. That answer is "to the extent permitted by due process." In the actual or practical world, the answer is much more difficult. PHILIP SELDON, Plaintiff, – against – …
Privilege and Legal Malpractice Litigation
The decision in Gucci America Inc. v. Guess? Inc., doesn’t answer the legal malpractice question, but it does answer the privilege question. Here’s the back story from Noeleen Walder at the New York Law Journal:
"Mr. Moss, a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, passed the California bar exam in 1993 but went…