Partial summary judgment for plaintiff is a rare beast in legal malpractice.  Judges have to overcome their natural bias against legal malpractice and the facts have to be very strong, or the acts of the attorneys very clearly wrong for partial summary judgment to be granted.  Here, in Krigsman v Goldberg  2018 NY Slip Op…

Judiciary Law § 487 relates to deceit by attorneys and allows for treble damages.  There are already multiple hurdles for the successful litigant, not the least of which is that the deceit must take place during litigation and within New York state.  M.T. Packaging, Inc. v Maidenbaum & Assoc.,
P.L.L.C.  2018 NY Slip Op 30601(U)  …

Continuous representation tolls the statute of limitations in legal and professional malpractice.  There are other more general tolls that apply to all cases, such as infancy and insanity.  Here, in Estate of Smulewicz v Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, LLP  2018 NY Slip Op 02722 Decided on April 19, 2018  Appellate Division, First Department plaintiff…

While many legal malpractice cases are brought, few, very few proceed to trial and fewer reach verdict.  Our research shows only one jury verdict in 2017 and only this bench trial verdict in 2016.

Abramowitz v Lefkowicz & Gottfried, LLP  2018 NY Slip Op 02589  Decided on April 18, 2018  Appellate Division, Second Department is…

The statute of limitations is a very high barrier to litigation, and to legal malpractice in particular, as there is often a long delay between the malpractice and the result.  The statue starts to run with the negligent act, and only continuous representation tolling can save the day for plaintiff.  Here, in Davis v Cohen …

Here is the difference between legal malpractice and all other forms of litigation, distilled to a single sentence by Justice Kornreich in NextEra Energy, Inc. v Greenberg Traurig, LLP  2018 NY Slip Op 30638(U) April 11, 2018  Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 652484/2017

“Between August 2002 and December 2010, NextEra was represented in…

There are additional hurdles for legal malpractice cases not found in other spheres of the law.  Rodriguez v Dean    2018 NY Slip Op 30642(U)  April 10, 2018  Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 805280/16  Judge: Sherry Klein Heitler presents a new wrinkle we have not seen before.  There are more than a few legal…

There have been only a few uses of the Grace v. Law rule that if a plaintiff has a viable (“likely to succeed”) appeal, it must be taken prior to commencing a legal malpractice case. Florists’ Mut. Ins. Co., Inc. v Behman Hambelton, LLP  2018 NY Slip Op 02556  Decided on April 12, 2018  Appellate…