When does the statute of limitations start to run in legal malpractice? Is it on the day that former attorneys are "substituted out" or perhaps on the day that successor counsel sign a retainer agreement? One answer is found in Fur Online v. Rivkin Radler, LLP, Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 113292/08.
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.
It’s a 3 year Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice
No matter how you phrase it, it’s a 3 year statute under CPLR 214(6). Attorneys try to phrase it as contract, or breach of fiduciary duty, or misrepresentation, but so long as the wrong arises from a professional relationship between client and attorney its a 3 year statute. In Matter of R.M. Kliment & Frances …
Avoiding Legal Malpractice: A Settlement is a Settlement is a Settlement
Actions have consequences, and in legal representation it may be malpractice, Here is an example. Say, for example that you have a robust asbestos practice, and in one of your many pending actions, you have one of many defendants file a motion for summary judgment. You may not be sure whether there is any evidence against that…
Forgery Claims in a Legal Malpractice Setting
Plaintiff loses a commercial law case, and sues his attorneys for legal malpractice. During discovery, while preparing responses to interrogatories, he discovers, and then sues over what he claims is a forged affidavit said to be prepared by the attorneys and unsuccessfully used in his case. Worse he says, the affidavit contained inaccurate information which…
It’s Today’s Law, Not Yesterday’s in Legal Malpractice
Attorney takes on case for client, and the job is to check whether client can erect a Walgreens in Brooklyn. Attorney does research, and determines that the building and parking lot will be legal in that zoning. Attorney, however, fails to check if any new laws have been passed by the NYC Council on zoning…
Legal Malpractice and the Failure to File a Letter
Legal representation in even simple matters can lead to unintended consequences. As an Example H & J Restaurant v, A & J Grand Enterprises and Leigh, 2009 Slip OP 21544, authored by Justice Edmead, demonstrates how a simple ministerial mistake can end up with a potential $ 400,000 loss, with later judgment against the attorney.
It’s a simple transaction…
Foreign and Domestic Marital Law and Legal Malpractice
Today we look at a second legal malpractice motion decided this week by Justice Emily Jane Goodman in Supreme Court, New York County. This case involves a divorce action between a US husband and a Czech wife, with immigration and fraud elements mixed in. On top of the international aspects of the case, Justice Goodman…
Waterfront Retaining Wall Leads to Legal Malpractice Retainer Issue
In Supreme Court, New York County, Justice Emily Jane Goodman issued not one but two legal malpractice decisions this week. We’ll cover Koch tomorrow. Today, Esterman v. Schwartz, New York Slip Op. 2009-31523.
Plaintiffs are a subset of a group of owners of a waterfront Staten island development which suffered retaining wall damage in…
A Combination of Misappropriation and Legal Malpractice
Here, in GURVEY,, v. COWAN, LIEBOWITZ & LATMAN, PC., CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS, INC., INSTANTLIVE CONCERTS, LLC, LIVE NATION, INC., NEXTICKETING, INC. DALE HEAD, STEVE SIMON, and DOES I-VIII, INCLUSIVE, ; 06 Civ. 1202 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK;2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34839; 2009-1 Trade Cas. (CCH) P76,623…
Legal Malpractice and the Failure to Report a Settlement Offer
In Boglia v Greenberg ; 2009 NY Slip Op 05278 ; Decided on June 23, 2009 ; Appellate Division, Second Department wee see a successful opposition to summary judgment based upon a claim of failure to report a settlement offer to plaintiff.
"To sustain a cause of action alleging legal malpractice, a plaintiff must…