Delo v O’Connor 2022 NY Slip Op 34135(U) December 7, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 652721/2022 Judge: Arlene P. Bluth is the kind of case that judges are prepared to dismiss wholesale. Judges, viewing this type of legal malpractice claim often find that everything is speculative, even when facts/arguments are
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.
Judiciary Law 487 in a Matrimonial Setting
Lembert v Zucker 2022 NY Slip Op 34440(U) December 23, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 151344/2021 Judge: Verna L. Saunders is aptly described by the court:
“Plaintiff commenced this action asserting violation of Judiciary Law § 487, abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress…
Legal Malpractice in a Car Case
Chicas v Cassar 2023 NY Slip Op 00202 Decided on January 18, 2023 Appellate Division, Second Department is an example of how trial courts tend to handle legal malpractice matters…dismiss them and look the other way. The Appellate Division almost summarily reversered.
In May 2015, the plaintiff retained the defendants to represent him in a…
Facial Recognition and Judiciary Law 487
Hutcher v Madison Sq. Garden Entertainment Corp. 2022 NY Slip Op 34417(U)
December 23, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 653793/2022 Judge: Lyle E. Frank is already a famous case. Banned from MSG, these attorneys took to the courts.
The present action anses out of Defendant MADISON SQUARE GARDEN ENTERTAINMENT CORP.’s…
Lil Wayne and the Non-Lawyer
Plaintiff, Lil Wayne seeks to sue his “former representative” and lawyer of 13 years for practicing law in New York without a license. Carter v Sweeney, 2023 NY Slip Op 00150
Decided on January 12, 2023, Appellate Division, First Department , fails for a plethora of reasons.
“Plaintiff, a prominent rap artist and musician, alleges…
Account Stated Claims By Attorneys
Reem Contr. v Altschul & Altshcul 2022 NY Slip Op 34430(U) December 30, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 104202/2011 Judge: Kelly A. O’Neill Levy discusses two interesting points: when an expert is needed in a summary judgment motion on a legal malpractice case (covered on 1/9/23) and whether an…
Was It Attorney Fault or Client’ Choice?
Reem Contr. v Altschul & Altshcul 2022 NY Slip Op 34430(U) December 30, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 104202/2011 Judge: Kelly A. O’Neill Levy discusses two interesting points: when an expert is needed in a summary judgment motion on a legal malpractice case and whether an account stated claim…
Standing, Yes But Too Speculative (2)
Last post, we discussed Gad v Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, LLP 2022 NY Slip Op 34357(U) December 20, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 156841/2021 Judge: Margaret A. Chan where siblings fight long and hard over a very lucrative business, resulting in years of litigation, costly attorney fees, and the…
Standing is Established But Damages Are Too Speculative
In Gad v Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, LLP 2022 NY Slip Op 34357(U) December 20, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 156841/2021
Judge: Margaret A. Chan Siblings fight long and hard over a very lucrative business, resulting in years of litigation, costly attorney fees, and the ultimate try at selling…
The New Poster Child for Non-Privity Legal Malpractice
Strict privity of contract requirements make legal malpractice different from all other types of litigation. Even in products liability, which once rested completely and solely upon privity of contract as a prerequisite, things have loosened. Betz v Blatt, 2022 NY Slip Op 07430 Decided on December 28, 2022 Appellate Division, Second Department, which…