Drasche v Edelman & Edelman 2022 NY Slip Op 00044 Decided on January 06, 2022 Appellate Division, First Department is a “got an offer but did not communicate it” claim which was dismissed, in part for the failure to prove that the claim was made and in part for failing to allege that the client
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.
Can you Depend On WebCivilSupreme?
In a legal malpractice case, Defendants got a WebCivilSupreme notification that the motion was adjourned to August 24, 2020. That’s where things started to go wrong.
In Reem Contr. v Altschul & Altschul 2022 NY Slip Op 00021 Decided on January 04, 2022 Appellate Division, First Department the Appellate Division reversed and gave defendants a…
A Primer on Various Statutes of Limitation
While only mentioning legal malpractice in passing, Morrow v Brighthouse Life Ins. Co. of NY 2021 NY Slip Op 07373. Decided on December 23, 2021, Appellate Division, Fourth Department is an interesting primer on statutes of limitations.
“We agree with defendants that Supreme Court (Ogden, J.) erred in denying those parts of the motion seeking…
Multiple Litigations and a Legal Malpractice Claim
Singh v Pliskin, Rubano, Baum & Vitulli 2021 NY Slip Op 07019
Decided on December 15, 2021 Appellate Division, Second Department
“The plaintiff Roopnarine Singh is the majority shareholder of the plaintiff MSN Air Service, Inc. (hereinafter MSN). Edward A. Radburn is the minority shareholder of MSN. In 2009, Radburn commenced a proceeding pursuant to…
Much Ado and No Resolution
In a short year end decision, no one wins a summary judgment decision. This stand-off clearly favors plaintiff, which now enters the new year with a trial to be had. In Security Plans, Inc. v Harter Secrest & Emery, LLP
2021 NY Slip Op 07382 Decided on December 23, 2021 Appellate Division, Fourth Department told…
Was The Fee Greater Than The Retainer Allowed?
Wilson v Tully Rinckey PLLC 2021 NY Slip Op 07341 Decided on December 23, 2021 Appellate Division, Third Department is a fairly straight-forward affirmance of Supreme Court’s denial of a CPLR 3211 motion. Here are the simple reasons why the legal malpractice claims were not dismissed. Plaintiff sued for employment discrimination and thought that part…
Always Remind the Court that You Are An Attorney
As a trial document, Outeda v Asensio 2021 NY Slip Op 51069(U) [73 Misc 3d 136(A)] Decided on November 5, 2021 Appellate Term, Second Department is a little surprising. It’s an attorney fee trial over $ 10,000. The decision catalogues what went wrong, some of it easily avoidable. Read both dissents in the full version.…
What Happens When the Med Mal Attorney Bows Out?
A frequently recurring situation in legal malpractice cases is that plaintiff retains lawfirm in a medical malpractice case, and very shortly before the statute of limitations date, the lawfirm bows out. They quit, often because they have been unwilling or unable to fund an expert, whose review is necessary prior to filing the complaint. Legal…
Legal Malpractice Liability For Hiring Other Attorneys
There can be liability for negligent referrals to other attorneys, and there can be vicarious liability for the acts of attorneys who are hired together or at the behest of one another. Moncho v Miller 2021 NY Slip Op 06960
Decided on December 14, 2021, Appellate Division, First Department makes this point.
“Plaintiff 261 East…
Selecting Certain Providers Can Support Legal Malpractice
While negligent selection of experts has been rejected as a legal malpractice claim many times on the explanation that selection of experts is a strategy choice, in Moncho v Miller 2021 NY Slip Op 06960
Decided on December 14, 2021, Appellate Division, First Department determined that selection of a litigation funder can be the basis…