Here is a legal malpracice statute of limitationscase in which the Appellate Division , First Department give a routine analysis of a legal malpracice case, dismissed on a CPLR 3211 motion in Supreme Court, and reversed in the Appellate Division. West Vil. Assoc. Ltd. Partnership v Balber Pickard Battistoni Maldonado & Ver Dan Tuin, PC
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.
No Expert, No Relationship, No Case in Legal Malpractice
Here is a SDNY case in which plaintiffs sued for legal malpractice, and lost the bench trial and the appeal. The decision does not spell out what was ambiguous about the retainer agreement, but both the bench and the appeal court determined that this "engagement" letter was insufficient to spell out an attorney-client relationship.
LATIN …
Blackwater Law Suit and Wiley Reins
BLT law blog [look it up for yourself] reports that Blackwater [the military and security subcontractor] is suing Zuckerman Spaeder in legal malpractice. Here it is from the BLT:
"Wiley Rein has hired attorneys at Zuckerman Spaeder to represent the firm in the $30 million Blackwater suit. In D.C. Superior Court, the private security contractor…
They All Come Out to Hear a Legal Malpractice Witness
We write in a large legal community, and this story is from a smaller one. Nevertheless, the interior quote caught our attention. This trial Magna Bank v. Coburn has been going on in Madison County, and has been widely reported. Here is yet another story, but with a twist. Sparsely attended untill now, the…
“Firestorm” in Legal Malpractice
Here, in a story from Atlanta from the Augusta Chronicle is the story of an Atlanta law firm that has a multiple number of legal malpractice cases facing it. One in particular, Jennifer v. Fleming the jury will be permitted to hear about an additional 22 cases. Two things stand out in this case:
a. …
Cases this Week in Legal Malpractice
Here are some NY state cases this week in Legal Malpractice:
1.Max Markus Katz, et al., appellants, v Herzfeld & Rubin, P.C., respondent.
APPELLATE DIVISION, SECOND DEPARTMENT
2008 NY Slip Op 1507 February 19, 2008
This case demonstrates two potent defenses: "we were fired before the end of the case, and the new…
Sometimes it’s Too Early for Legal Malpractice
Here is an unusual "too early" case in legal malpractice: Analisa Salon Ltd. v. Elide Properties LLC, 7582/05 , January 28, 2008
"Essential to a legal malpractice claim is proof that the alleged acts of an attorney proximately caused compensable damages. If there are no damages, there can be no cause of action. See Zletz…
NJ Legal Malpractice Case Dismissed after Losing an Auto Case
Plaintiff suffered an auto accident, and went to trial. Although the jury determined that the other driver was 100% at fault, it granted no damages to plaintiff. She sued her attorney , alleging that settlement offers were not comunicated to her.JUANITA GALATE, v. LOUIS A. CHIAROLANZA, ESQ., and CHIAROLANZA & DeANGELIS, ESQS
Her legal…
Indiana Will Drafting Legal Malpractice Case
From the Indiana Law Blog comes this will drafting legal malpractice case, in which the drafting of a will caused adverse tax consequences. Plaintiffs sued, and attorney’s successfully moved for summary judgment, only to lose at the appellate level:
"The trial court denied the Lawyers’ motion as to one issue, but granted it as to…
West Virginia Legal Malpractice and the Unfair Claims Settlement Act
Horulic v. Galloway started out as a garden or varietal auto accident case. It blossumed into a unique legal malpractice – bad faith- Unfair Claims Settlement Act case in which at least one significant lesson is learned. $ 500,000 is not sufficient coverage for attorneys who litigate personal injury matters.
Plaintiffs were injured in an…