Here is a case of a recently vindicated convict. He was convicted of murder, and served many years in jail. His case was remanded, and dismissed on the basis that there was insufficient evidence that the child who died was murdered; it may have been an accident. It is said in the news article that
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.
“But For” “Viability” and Legal Malpractice
“But for” is probably the hardest part of a legal malpractice case. Plaintiff must prove that except for the mistake of the attorney, it would have won the case. This requirement often comes up against a fact based argument that on the last day of representation by the now defendant attorney, the case was still…
Legal Malpractice, the 6th Circuit and Statute of Limitations
Insurance Week Blog reports this 6th Circuit Legal Malpractice statute of limitations case which points out the difference between a “discovery” statute and a “event” statute. Plaintiff wanted the statute to start running when she found out about the mistake, the court determined that it began to run when the mistake was made. Details. This…
Legal Malpractice Cases 1/4/06 to 1/16/06
Sabo v. Alan B. Brill, P.C., 7561-7561A, Index 100055/04 , SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT , 2006 NY Slip Op 221; Decided, January 12, 2006, This is a summary judgment dismissal of what appears to be a real estate transaction gone wrong. Both the attorney and the title company won dismissal.…
Legal Malpratice and Securities Litigation
Here is a strange story from Christopher R. Jones of the PSLRA Nugget Blog about class-action plaintiffs who attempted to sue the class-action attorneys, only to have the entire case fall apart. After a $ 160 million + recovery, several plaintiffs brought the legal malpractice action based upon the claim that Arthur Andersen was not…
Va. Legal Malpractice and Other Compensation
Here is a case from Virginia, in which an innocent man was convicted of murder. He served time, and was later released. He successfully obtained compensation from the State of Virginia of $ 750,000, and followed with a legal malpractice suit against his attorneys. The legal malpractice case was dismissed on the basis that state…
Sui Generis Legal Malpractice Post
Here’s a case sent to us by Sui Generis blog. Its a legal malpractice case involving statute of limitations, which here arise from the date of the consent to change attorneys, Detailsnot the later dismissal of plaintiff’s underlying case. Details
Legal Malpractice Horror Story
Just read it. This story cannot be encapsulated.
California Statute of Limitations and Tolling
A statute of limitations may be tolled by agreement or by fraud. Here is a California case in which the attorney agreed to a tolling, then left the firm. The toll remained in effect against the firm. Details.
Mistakes at the Clerk’s Office and Legal Malpractice
The essence of good and adequate legal practice may well lie in the small details: when and when to file a new law suit. An article in today’s New York Law Journal tells of an easy to make mistake in filing a “special proceeding”. These cases are often subject to a very short statute of limitations, arising from a denial by government and an Artcle 78 proceedings.
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