Actually we’re a little shocked at the facts of this matrimonial action involving Thomas Liotti. in Coccia v Liotti ;2010 NY Slip Op 00917 ; Decided on February 9, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Second Department we see some very unusual language from the Appellate Division. Beyond reinstating [or more correctly put, modifying] the legal
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.
Liability of Subsequent Attorneys in Legal Malpractice
Macaluso v Pollack , 2010 NYSlipOp 30276(U) , Justice Diamond, Nassau County presents an interesting story of how a case can get dismissed. Beyond the storyline, the case presents analysis of liability of predecessor/subsequent attorneys, how the dissolution of a partnership affects legal malpractice litigation, what subsequent attorneys can accomplish in the Second Circuit, and potential liability of associate attorneys.…
Employment Discrimination and Legal Malpractice
Carboni v Ginsberg ; 02/02/2010 2010 NYSlipOp 30256(U) Maltese, J. is an illustration of how a potential legal malpractice case underlays almost all activity within the realm of attorney representation, which is to say, everything.
Here, the question is whether plaintiff lost his employment in a wrongful manner, and after that determination, whether he has…
No Right to Arbitrate Fee Dispute Despite Retainer Language
In Edelman v Poster ; 2010 NY Slip Op 00788 ; Decided on February 4, 2010 ; Appellate Division, First Department we see a situation in which a matrimonial retainer agreement boldly stated a right to arbitrate, yet the Appellate Division, First Department, determined that client has no right to arbitrate.
Here is the…
Escrow and Legal Malpractice
In this Case Egnotovich v. Katten Muchin Zavis & Roseman LLP, 604101/06 , Decided January 23, 2008 ,Justice Bernard J. Fried NEW YORK COUNTY ,Supreme Court Plaintiffs joined a vacation club in which they each deposited $ 400,000, and the group was to purchase or lease apartments or houses in prime vacatiion spots. These spots…
The Need for an Expert in Legal Malpractice Litigation
There are a few situations in legal malpractice where an expert is not needed for plaintiff. An expert is needed, in general, when the subject matter is unknown or too complicated for lay jurors to understand or determine, and they require explanation by a person who is professionally or educationally acquainted with the specialized field. …
A Bold Search for the Usual Suspects i Legal Malpractice
We can’t tell an awful lot of the facts of the underlying case from the Second Department decision in Nelson v Roth 2010 NY Slip Op 00658 Decided on January 26, 2010 Appellate Division, Second Department but we do see the ironic clash of two well known Legal Malpractice defense firms, one acting as a plaintiff’s…
Claims, Counterclaims and Getting the File in Legal Malpractice
Client hires law firm, law firm is said to have made mistakes, law firm is said to have made corrective motions based upon its own mistakes, and then charged client. Law firm sues client, and client answers without filing a counterclaim.
Its not evident from the decision but we guess that client then hired an…
A Repellant Case, Once in Legal Malpractice
Victoria Kremen suffered unnecessary, and negligent bilateral mastectomy. It is said that removal of secondary sexual characteristics is akin to removal of ones central identity. Ms. Kremen was subjected to a horrible misdiagnosis, with subsequent surgery.
Things only went from bad to worse. She hired attorneys, but the action was not filed correctly. From law.com…
Judgement and Hindsight in Legal Malpractice Cases
Professional Judgment is what we hire attorneys for, and what we expect from them. Litigants are generally unable to proceed through difficult thickets of choice of courts, choice of strategy, choice of questions to ask at a trial. Nevertheless, we expect that our attorney will exercise correct and satisfactory professional judgment. When the client suspects…