There are four elements of legal malpractice.  “Standing” is not really one of them, but continually lurks in the background.  Your opponent’s lawyer departs from good practice?  Too bad.  You lack privity and you lack standing.  Your company retains the lawyer and you, individually want to sue?  Too bad.  You lack privity and you lack…

Granted, reading a decision does not always illuminate the facts behind the case, but Gilbo v Horowitz  2019 NY Slip Op 30320(U)  February 9, 2019  Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: 158727/2017 Judge: Margaret A. Chan is very startling.  It’s a legal malpractice case along with a declaratory judgment that he was incompetent to…

When plaintiff pro-se’s legal expert says there were 20 defaults, was this a flight of fancy or a typo in which there were two defaults?  Either way, the case is headed for dismissal rather than summary judgment.

 Ziemianowicz v Janowski  2019 NY Slip Op 30326(U)  February 6, 2019 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 521427/2016  …

Sclafani v Kahn  2019 NY Slip Op 01115  Decided on February 13, 2019 is an example of how the  Appellate Division, Second Department decides statute of limitation / continuous representation cases.  This legal malpractice claim arises from a loan closing where security for the loan was not handled.

“In January 2015, the plaintiffs commenced this…

Attorney fees collections are frequently said to be the major cause of legal malpractice litigation.  Some lawyers have resorted to starting litigation lending setups which lend money to their clients, thereby arranging for the attorney to be paid and the client to be the subject of a high-interest litigation loan. Justicebacker Inc. v Abeles  2019…

Legal malpractice in child custody / child support settings is notoriously difficult to prove. To begin, there is often a privity problem.  If that issue is solved, then the speculation question of “what would the judge have done if…” comes up.  It seems that this was the shortcoming in Chaudhuri v Kilmer 2018 NY Slip…

In Bakcheva v Law Offs. of Stein & Assoc.  2019 NY Slip Op 00844  Decided on February 6, 2019  the Second Department gives an example of what must be demonstrated by plaintiff to avoid summary judgment on a claim of legal malpractice.

“In January 2012, the plaintiff purchased a penthouse apartment on the seventh floor…

Epiphany Community Nursery Sch. v Levey  2019 NY Slip Op 00842  Decided on February 5, 2019  Appellate Division, First Department  Singh, J., J. is not primarily about accounting malpractice.  That nugget is merely part of a much larger fraud which seemed to swamp a NYC private school.  The intra-familial fraud is stunning.

“In 1973 Wendy…