In Santiago v Fellows, Epstein & Hymowitz, P.C. ; 2009 NY Slip Op 07393 ; Decided on October 13, 2009 ;Appellate Division, Second Department we see a rather stark and short decision from the Appellate Division after dueling summary judgment motions are decided in defendant’s favor. There is not a lot of factual background
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.
A Meritorious Counterclaim in Legal Malpractice
In Pu v. Mitsopoulos, Supreme Court, New York County recalls what every CLE program tells its audience: Fee suits invite legal malpractice counterclaims. Invariably, the suing attorney says that the counterclaim has no merit, and that it is sour grapes, and motivated solely by a deadbeat who refuses to pay wholly justified legal fees…
Why was this Legal Malpractice Case brought in SDNY?
In Acosta v. Falick & RochmanPLATZER, FALLICK & STERNHEIM, LLP, 05 Civ. 8254 (KTD)UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK; 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70878 we see a case brought pro-se and "in forma pauperis against his former lawyer, Barry M. Fallick, and his former lawyer’s firm, Rochman, Platzer, Fallick &…
Mediation, Confidentiality and Legal Malpractice
X is sued by defendants. He loses at trial using target attorneys. He hires new attorneys, mediates, settles, and assigns his rights to a legal malpractice action against his former [target] attorneys to plaintiff, who now sues target attorneys in the place of X. Is there still any confidentiality to the mediation asks the target…
The Kremen Legal Malpractice Saga Continues
We reported on this case back on5/14/07 and again on 9/19/08. Today, the NYLJ reports that the Morelli law firm’s attempt to garner disbursements from plaintiff has failed.
From the decision of Justice Goodman: "The following illustrates why members of the public may hold cynical views about the legal profession. This motion…
Intentional Wrongdoing and Legal Malpractice
Hinshaw reports an interesting South Carolina case in which plaintiff is estopped from a legal malpractice case against his attorney, on the basis that he is a wrongdoer, and one in in pari delicto may not recover civil liability.
From the Hinshaw alert: "Plaintiff William Whiteheart sued his former law firm, Waller & Stewart…
Can Law Firms Ever be Sued in US DIstrict Court?
Much of the law-related news is about multi-national law firms. Leaving them aside there is a serious question over whether our regular old national law firms can be sued in US District Court under diversity jurisdiction.
Let’s review the basics, as set forth in Lee v. Brown, 3:08-CV-01206 (CSH); UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR…
Mintz Levin and a Real Estate Legal Malpractice Case
Sheri Qualters at The National Law Journal reports that Mintz, Levin and its attorney Steven Rosenthal have been sued for "allegedly misusing his position to enrich himself and a friend." Rosenthal, formerly an attorney there, has moved on to real estate investment and development at Northland Investment Corp.
The suit revolves around a claim that…
Serial Plaintiff’s Case Dismissed
Legal malpractice is a filed associated with situations in which a person has lost their case. In real legal malpractice, but for the mistake of the attorney, there would have been a positive outcome. In a small subset of cases, however, there really is no merit to the action at all. Defense counsel in legal…
“Death Sentence Doc” and Legal Malpractice
We don’t understand why, but in Hashmi v Messiha ; 2009 NY Slip Op 06665 ; Decided on September 22, 2009 ; Appellate Division, Second Department the court places great weight on a mix-up between brothers. The basic claim is that plaintiff asked his attorneys to make a motion to dismiss would undoubtedly be successful. …