The primary lesson to be learned from Salans LLP v VBH Props. S.R.L. 2019 NY Slip Op 02611 Decided on April 4, 2019 Appellate Division, First Department is that courts will deem a studied prediction on what would have happened if counsel had actually gone to court and made certain arguments is that they will
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.
Gone Like That!
Gengo v Storms 2019 NY Slip Op 02504 Decided on April 3, 2019 Appellate Division, Second Department displays the importance of the nuts and bolts of litigation. Commencing the action and serving the defendant is the base of any litigation, and here, it went south very quickly.
“On October 23, 2016, the plaintiff commenced this…
Architect Contracts and the Scope of Work
Scope of work is a term of art used by architects; it is similarly a term of art applied to architect contracts and the potential for professional malpractice claims against them. University Ave., LLC v Simbari Design Architecture, PLLC 2019 NY Slip Op 50330(U) Decided on March 19, 2019 Supreme Court, Cortland County Guy, J.…
Privity and Near Privity in a Professional Malpractice Setting
On Lam v Arnold Montag Architect 2019 NY Slip Op 30712(U) March 13, 2019 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 522413/2017 Judge: Pamela L. Fisher discusses the relationship between plaintiffs and sub-contractors of their architects and other professionals, and the requirement of privity in a breach of contract case.
“On March 4, 2013, BTE entered…
The All-mighty Account Stated Rule
Attorney billing is the center of the attorney world, and the greatest part of attorney-client litigation arises from or concerns attorney billing. Ledyard v Bical 2019 NY Slip Op 30739(U) March 20, 2019 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 150470/2018 Judge: Arthur F. Engoron is an excellent example. Arrested, indicted and shown the evidence…
Legal Malpractice and the Failure to Perfect
In a general sense, the failure to perfect is a failure to follow up. The attorneys did some work, but then failed to sew up the final product. In A & L Vil. Mkt., Inc. v 344 Vil., Inc. 2019 NY Slip Op 02304 Decided on March 27, 2019 Appellate Division, Second Department it was…
The Requirement to Search for Insurance
Since attorney fees seem to power the world, allowing for litigation and defense, and accounting for more than 60% of all attorney law suits, it is not surprising to see Soni v. Pryor come up again and again. In McGlynn v Burns & Harris 2019 NY Slip Op 02335 Decided on March 27, 2019
Appellate…
For Reasons Unexplained an Upstate Pro-Se Legal Malpractice Case Fails
In Nowlin v Schiano 2019 NY Slip Op 02216 Decided on March 22, 2019 Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed the decision of Supreme Court, Monroe County. With a recitation of Supreme Court’s standard, it concludes that there is no substance to the pro-se claim. Further explantion, there is none.
“Memorandum: In this legal malpractice action,…
No Continuous Representation, Not Much Explanation
Continuous representation tolls the statute of limitations, and requires actual work, a mutual understanding between client and attorney of the need for the actual work along with a mutual relationship of trust and confidence. In RJR Mech. Inc. v Ruvoldt 2019 NY Slip Op 01844
Decided on March 14, 2019 Appellate Division, First Department some…
Failure to Appeal is a Problem
In Pugliese v Martin Law Group, P.C. 2019 NY Slip Op 01810 Decided on March 13, 2019
the Appellate Division, Second Department reminds that legal malpractice consists of more than a mere mistake. Plaintiff must still prove proximate or “but for” cause. Merely failing to perfect an appeal is insufficient.
“ORDERED that the order is…