When cases are dismissed, they are dismissed with or without prejudice. This term means whether the matter can be brought again. If dismissed without prejudice, then the plaintiff is permitted to recommence the action. Traditionally, dismissals at the beginning of the case are based upon the pleadings. Some of the dismissals (as in CPLR 3211(a)(7))
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.
Speculation and Strategy Lead to Dismissal
In this matrimonial action, Defendant attorneys were retained 8 months + after the Note of Issue. The custody trial started the day after retention and the financial trial thereafter. Plaintiff claims in Lijun Feng v Passonneau 2021 NY Slip Op 31507(U) April 29, 2021 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 156765/2020 Judge: Richard G.…
Legal Malpractice and the OPMC
There is an old (very old) tension between doctors and attorneys that we believe stems from antediluvian times. Lawyers frequently prosecute claims against doctors and (reportedly) doctors loathe attorneys. Whether or not true, legal malpractice claims arising from cases involving the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (DOH) and doctor discipline often end up in a…
An Unopposed Motion To Dismiss
Not surprisingly, an unopposed motion to dismiss is often granted. The lack of opposition sometimes is because Plaintiff is pro-se, sometimes because of law office error. Here, in Melendez v Renfroe, Driscoll & Foster, LLP 2021 NY Slip Op 31462(U) April 29, 2021 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 157344/2019 Judge: W. Franc…
Matrimonial Rules for Billing are Quite Strict
Plaintiff attorney loses fee case against pro-se client because he could not show substantial compliance with the matrimonial billing rules of 22 NYCRR 1400, et seq in Swergold v. Weinrib 2021 NY Slip Op 02555
Decided on April 28, 2021Appellate Division, Second Department.
“The plaintiff attorney represented the defendant in a matrimonial action, in which…
Divorce Proceedings and Legal Malpractice
Divorce in wealthy families can be expensive. Division of significant assets, using teams of lawyers can quickly add up. Kaufman v Boies Schiller Flexner, LLP 2021 NY Slip Op 31340(U) April 22, 2021 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 154149/2018 Judge: James E. d’Auguste not only cost a lot, it spawned multiple other litigations…
How Do You Prove the “But For”?
Traditionally, one pleads: “If this, then that.” However, when proposing how persons would have reacted to a specific stimulus, in the legal malpractice setting, one must avoid speculation. So, attorney was tardy in serving and filing a Notice of Entry. That gave the other side more time to file a notice of appeal. Did it…
Legal Malpractice and a Default by the Attorney
Could there be anything more ironic than a defendant attorney (accused of malpractice) losing the case because the defendant attorney failed to answer the complaint?
Rene v Abrams 2021 NY Slip Op 02431 Decided on April 21, 2021 Appellate Division, Second Department provides the short answer.
“In an action to recover damages for legal malpractice,…
Why Was This Not Malpractice?
We look to the Courts for legal guidance, and practitioners look to Appellate decisions in order to understand guiding principles. In a legal malpractice setting, one question might be whether the standard of practice requires attorneys to ensure that a purchaser of real property gets everything that is promised in the contract of sale?
This…
Rappers and Legal Malpractice
People often ask attorneys whether they have any celebrity clients? Here, in Carter v Sweeney 2021 NY Slip Op 31261(U) April 16, 2021
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 151067/2019
Judge: James E. d’Auguste Lil Wayne asks for 13 years of legal fees to be returned to him. He is generally unsuccessful.
“This action…