The statute of limitations for legal malpractice is three years. There is a whole bible of case law on when the S/L commences (at the mistake) and how it might be tolled (continuous representation). Strategic practitioners generally wait for expiration of the three year period before bringing fee claims (subject to a 6 year statute).
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.
Another Win for an OPMC Litigator
Attorneys who defend doctors in Office of Professional Medical Conduct proceedings work in a complex rule-driven atmosphere. Frequently negative outcomes lead to legal malpractice cases. In Manouel v Dembin 2022 NY Slip Op 00725 Decided on February 03, 2022
Appellate Division, First Department the case ended with summary judgment.
“Plaintiff fails to articulate any persuasive…
A Second Motion To Dismiss With The Same Result
Postiglione v Sacks & Sacks, LLP 2022 NY Slip Op 30148(U) January 19, 2022 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: Index No. 513779/19 Judge: Karen B. Rothenberg is an interesting case, both for its complexity as well as for the level of scrutiny given by the Court in these two CPLR 3211 pleading sufficiency motions. …
Second Seating in a Huge Fraud Case and Legal Malpractice
Davis v Farrell Fritz, P.C. 2022 NY Slip Op 00399 Decided on January 26, 2022 Appellate Division, Second Department deals with fraud in very big numbers. Dismissal under CPLR 3211 was reversed. Here are the facts for the second set of attorneys:
“In 2009, the plaintiffs’ decedent, Charles Robert Allen III (hereinafter Allen) through his…
A $70 Million Loss and Now Legal Malpractice
Davis v Farrell Fritz, P.C. 2022 NY Slip Op 00399 Decided on January 26, 2022 Appellate Division, Second Department deals with fraud in very big numbers. Dismissal under CPLR 3211 was reversed. Here are the facts:
“n 2009, the plaintiffs’ decedent, Charles Robert Allen III (hereinafter Allen) through his son Luke Allen, as guardian for…
Mistake after Mistake, But No Good Legal Malpractice Case
Adams v Pulvers, Pulvers & Thompson, L.L.P. 2022 NY Slip Op 30160(U)
January 19, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 154594/2021 Judge: David Benjamin Cohen seems to have a mistake (typo) regarding the most important date in the decision, but assuming that 2017 is really 2018, it seems that the attorneys…
Court Grants Dismissal on “False Narrative”
Walk v Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, 2022 NY Slip Op 50031(U) Decided on January 20, 2022 Supreme Court, New York County Borrok, J. The claims were that the attorneys failed adequately to advise on the settlement of an employment dispute, costing Plaintiff up to $ 60 Million. The claim failed.
“Upon the foregoing documents and…
No Coverage, No Loss, No Malpractice
Hirsch v Walder 2022 NY Slip Op 00124 Decided on January 11, 2022
Appellate Division, First Department is an example of the depth to which the Courts go in making determinative decisions on early-pleading motions to dismiss. In this case, even though unstated, the decision is based upon CPLR 3211(a)(1). The Court reviewed some documents…
A Long Litigation, But too Late for Legal Malpractice Claim
When does the statute of limitations commence for a legal malpractice claim? In short, it commences on the date of the mistake. It can be tolled by continuous representation. In Ross v Mashkanta, LLC 2021 NY Slip Op 32873(U) December 23, 2021 Supreme Court, Kings County
Docket Number: Index No. 508310/2019 Judge: Carl J. Landicino,…
Legal Malpractice Cases Remaining From Superstorm Sandy
Plaintiffs in 286 Corbin Owners Corp. v Berger, 2022 NY Slip Op., 30018(U) January 3, 2022 Supreme Court, Kings County et Number: Index No. 513265/2020 Judge: Wavny Toussaint suffered storm damage from Sandy, and hired defendant attorneys to litigate. Things went south from there. The claim languished, the statute ran, and there was…