Ripeness and mootness are two concepts not all that readily associated with litigation. If a case exists, it should be ready to adjudicate, no? If someone has been damaged, then the case cannot be moot? We see one such example in GREENSTREET FINANCIAL, L.P., -against- CS-GRACES, LLC, et al., Defendants. CS-GRACES, LLC, et al.,07 Civ.
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.
Who Owes the Duty in Legal Malpractice?
An auto accident. Severe injuries. A multi-million dollar settlement. Is that the end of the story? TOKYO MARINE AND NICHIDO FIRE INSURANCE CO., LTD., as subrogee for Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America, Inc., Plaintiff, -against- ROSALIE CALABRESE and LOUIS FACCIPONTI, Defendants. ROSALIE CALABRESE and LOUIS FACCIPONTI, Third-Party Plaintiffs, -against- RUSSO & APOZNANSKI, and MONTFORT, HEALY, …
Carvalho and Questions to a Party Witness
In a remarkably detailed and reasoned decision, Justice NeMoyer of Supreme Court, Erie County dissects the holding of Carvalho v New Rochelle Hosp. 53 AD2d 635 [2d Dept 1976]. Carvalho is a seminal case in trial practice, which permits questioning of one party [lawyers as well as doctors] as experts in their own case.…
Is There a Relationship in this Legal Malpractice Case?
Trusts and estates law and legal malpractice cases often intertwine. A unique and singular thread runs through them. Death is almost always a part of the equation, and often, there is a question of whether the attorney represented decedent or beneficiary. Beyond the simple question of death, there is almost always a long gestation period between…
When is an Expert Necessary in Legal Malpractice Cases?
There are two instances in New York law where an expert might be necessary in legal malpractice litigation. One is at the trial of the matter, and the other at a motion for summary judgment. In general, an expert is necessary in any litigation where the "issues in this case are not part of an…
“Law of the Case” in Legal Malpractice
Legal malpractice cases are unlike anything else…they all have a prior case background, and each must contain proofs of the "but for" variety. Put another way, law of the case is almost always a consideration in legal malpractice cases. Could plaintiff have won the underlying case? Does dismissal of the underlying case fatally flaw a…
Can Landlords Attorney Commit Legal Malpractice Against Tenant ?
In Ramirez v. 164 West 146 Street LLC, the question is raised whether a tenant, illegally evicted because the warrant of eviction named a former landlord and not the current landlord may successfully sue the landlords’ attorney. The answer is, no. Justice York of Supreme Court, New York County sets forth the reasoning.
Plaintiff here sued…
Insurer v. Defense Attorney in Legal Malpractice
It’s not often that one sees an insurer v. defense attorney legal malpractice case, but this one seems to have very big damages. Law firm Barry, McTiernan & Moore, a well known defense firm in New York defended a synagogue fire case that was valued in excess of $ 16 million. The insurer alleges malpractice in…
Motions to Dismiss and Legal Malpractice
The relationship between a motion to dismiss [CPLR 3211]. a request to amend the pleadings, and dismissal on the merits is wrought with both emotion yet is based upon logic. No author of pleadings appreciates a motion to dismiss. The motion generally brays that there is "no merit", the pleading is "frivolous", is badly written…
Did He or Didn’t He is a Legal Malpractice Question
TJS of N.Y. Inc. v. Koppelman, 2010 NY Slip Op 32329(U), by Justice Denise F. Molia of Supreme Court, Suffolk County is something of a cliff-hanger. When we read it, there was no foreshadowing, no pre-tensioning nor any insight into how the decision would come out. it’s a classic didhedoit.
Plaintiff claims a longstanding relationship…