Guayara v Harry I. Katz, P.C. ; 2011 NY Slip Op 02845 ;Decided on April 5, 2011 ;Appellate Division, Second Department is a relatively straightforward legal malpractice case involving multiple defendants. Is a claim that defendants knew of a judgment won by plaintiff and failed to tell her of methods by which she could
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.
Bad Practice Within Legal Malpractice Litigation
How often do cases explode because of discovery abuses? We do not have a firm answer, but much of the legal malpractice litigation world arises from discovery abuses. Here, in Rock City Sound, Inc. v Bashian & Farber, LLP ;2011 NY Slip Op 02861 ;Decided on April 5, 2011 ;Appellate Division, Second Department we see…
Experts and Sanctions in Malpractice Litigation
This case involves experts in medical malpractice, but it is equally applicable to legal malpractice cases. May an expert witness (doctor or lawyer) be sued for malpractice based upon expert testimony at a malpractice case? The answer in Cattani v Marfuggi ;2009 NY Slip Op 29538 [26 Misc 3d 1053] ; November 25, 2009…
Mea Culpa, But Not Yet, in Legal Malpractice
Attorneys sometimes say, in essence, sorry, I was wrong. This happens far less often then one might think, but, it does happen. When does that admission become applicable and useful in summary judgment. The obvious answer is "after joinder of issue", but the more real world answer is found in Vlachos v Weil ;2011…
Attorney/Client Hires Attorney, Sues Attorney, Loses in Legal Malpracticee
Capogrosso v Landsman ;2011 NY Slip Op 02826 ;Decided on April 5, 2011 ;Appellate Division, Second Department is an example of the problem of successor attorneys. Aside from the fact that this particular plaintiff is herself an attorney, and has herself sued many attorneys (and lost), the more salient point to take from this…
A Pro-Se Legal Malpractice Case Slips into Obscurity
In the Third Department certain types of cases seem to predominate. One such type is tax matters. This case,Dealey-Doe-Eyes Maddux v Schur ;2011 NY Slip Op 02763 ;Decided on April 7, 2011 ;Appellate Division, Third Department falls into that category. A failed tax action against Fulton County, followed by a failed legal malpractice action, followed…
Whose Job Is It to Prepare the Case – Attorney or Client
The Fourth Department, in what we see as strong terms, reiterated that it is always the attorney’s job to prepare the case, and that responsibility may not be shifted to the client. Even when the client participates in the preparation it remains a responsibility of the attorney.
In Rupert v Gates & Adams, P.C.
How Legal Malpractice Morphs Into Breach of Fiduciary Duty
We had not thought about the time relations hp between legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty and how the first could become impossible while the second could start, but the Fourth Department set it all out in Neuman v Frank ;2011 NY Slip Op 02215 ;Decided on March 25, 2011
Appellate Division, Fourth…
When is it the Client’s Fault and When is it Legal Malpractice ?
Client is a sophisticated real estate investor, and has hired attorney to do two deals already. Both went smoothly. Third time, client expects to lend $ 500,000 to a real estate development, and finds himself not only out the $ 500,000 but owing $ 650,000 to another lender.
Defendant attorney says, look at the documents. …
When Does a Malpractice Case Accrue?
When the statute of limitations begins to run and whether there is continuous representation is a constant problem in legal malpractice cases. Here are two, which both illustrate the issue. One went to the US Supreme Court (cert denied) and one was just affirmed at the AD level. Both were brought by dedicated practitioners and…