It is ironic when attorney errors harm an otherwise good legal malpractice case.  Leeder v Antonucci  2019 NY Slip Op 05898 [174 AD3d 1469] July 31, 2019 Appellate Division, Fourth Department is an example.

“We reject plaintiff’s contention that Supreme Court erred in granting the cross motion with respect to the biofuel cause of action.…

An attorney sues the client for legal fees.  Client has two choices.  Resist the fee claim on its merits (overbilled,work not performed, work not contemplated in contract) or add a claim for legal malpractice.  Either way, the client must make the legal malpractice claim stick now.  It cannot be brought later.

Kleinman v Weisman Law …

Incarceration for not paying child support is unusual but certainly not unheard of.  This case illustrates the defense strategy of receding into the background and waiting while the controversy swirls around the other defendants.  In this case more than a year went by after a default and the defendant obtained dismissal. Rivera v Kerr  2019…

What is an attorney at a real estate closing required to do and when does a failure to do so bleed into legal malpractice?  Mah v 40-44 W. 120th St. Assoc., LLC,  2019 NY Slip Op 33071(U)  October 10, 2019 Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 650927/2016  Judge: Robert R. Reed provides some answers. …

How does a release work and what are its limits?  This is the question that Avnet, Inc. v Deloitte Consulting LLP  2019 NY Slip Op 33026(U)
October 11, 2019 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 653146/2019 Judge: Jennifer G. Schecter answers in great detail.  The opinion comes with extensive and fascinating footnotes.  They are…

Seaman v Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP  2019 NY Slip Op 07510 Decided on October 17, 2019 Appellate Division, First Department illustrates to bedrock principles of legal malpractice.  The first is that of privity and the second is that of  demonstrable technical mistakes v. dashed expectations.  The attorneys working on the post-nup were not in…

A claim for legal malpractice has been made, and damages in a commercial setting are alleged.  How does one prove them, what are the rules and what is the difference between general and consequential damages?  In Electron Trading LLC v Perkins Coie LLP 2019 NY Slip Op 33019(U) October 9, 2019
Supreme Court, New York…

In a stark turnabout, Gross v Aronson, Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP
2019 NY Slip Op 32972(U) October 9, 2019 Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: 153274/2017 Judge: Anthony Cannataro illustrates the compelling defense given to prior counsel when successor counsel takes over and fails to fix a problem facing the first attorney.  If…