Martin Assoc., Inc. v Illinois Natl. Ins. Co. 2020 NY Slip Op 06860 [188 AD3d 572] November 19, 2020 Appellate Division, First Department is an excellent example of how the “but for” principle is applied.  In this case, the claim was that defendant attorneys failed to notify the excess carrier, and thus, coverage was lost.…

MVNY Holdings v Esses Law Group, LLC  2020 NY Slip Op 33380(U) October 15, 2020 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 153853/2019 Judge: Carol R. Edmead ended very badly for plaintiffs.  Not only did they lose a slew of money in the underlying real estate transaction, but they found out when they went to…

Attorney fee claims = Client malpractice claims.  This particular phrase could be chiseled into law school lintels.  Kovkov v Law Firm of Dayrel Sewell, PLLC 2020 NY Slip Op 05682 [187 AD3d 505] October 13, 2020
Appellate Division, First Department is a prime example.  Law firm was not paid after getting an initial $7500.  The…

A shocking practice in an otherwise virtuous area of law has recently bobbed up to the surface.  Lee v Leeds, Morelli & Brown, P.C.  2020 NY Slip Op 33374(U) September 30, 2020 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 8651/05 Judge: Ingrid Joseph is the latest case in which the Leeds Morelli paradigm of “anti-discrimination” litigation…

Attorneys took on a jail beating case only to find that the most major injury, amputation of a testicle, was undertaken due to an incidental diagnosis of cancer, not due to trauma from the beating.  So, can they just quit?  Court says no.

Scott v Leventhal  2020 NY Slip Op 33276(U) September 30, 2020 Supreme…

Strategic choices in medicine and law have always been given great deference by the Courts.  “Medicine is an art, not a science” is often heard in Med Mal trials.  Strategic choices by attorneys may cover a vast area of their acts at trial, in hearings and elsewhere. Wormser, Kiely, Galef & Jacobs LLP v Frumkin  …

Lawyer is hired to represent buyer in an apartment building purchase.  Purchase goes bad because instead of a regular multiple dwelling setting, the building is actually a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) which are an old form of a hotel.  Buyer does not get what it expected.  Claim against attorney is that it did not read…

Melendez v Renfroe, Driscoll & Foster, LLP  2020 NY Slip Op 32600(U) August 11, 2020 Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 157344/2019 Judge: W. Franc Perry tells a familiar story.  Familiar as in family.  Legal malpractice can take place in any legal setting, whether injury,  inheritance, invention or intellectual settings.  Siblings fighting over ineritance…