What a difference a sentence in the retainer agreement can make.  In Matz v Aboulafia Law Firm, LLC  2017 NY Slip Op 32147(U)  October 10, 2017  Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: 155506/2016  Judge: Kathryn E. Freed, these words led to dismissal against the attorneys: [the Aboulafia Firm]  “is to do no further work…

Ragunandan v Donado  2017 NY Slip Op 04306 [150 AD3d 1289]  May 31, 2017
Appellate Division, Second Department is a case in which both sides moved for summary judgment.  In Supreme Court, the attorney won.  On appeal, both lost.  Case continues; defendant is more unhappy than is plaintiff.

“Ordered that the order is modified, on…

There are few really good excuses in life.  “The dog ate my ___” is one classic.  “Traffic” can serve as a reasonable excuse.  Temporary psychological inability to defend oneself does not seem like a good candidate, but in  Pierot v Leopold  2017 NY Slip Op 07154  Decided on October 11, 2017  Appellate Division, Second Department…

New, or unique causes of action rarely arise.  In Alrose Steinway, LLC v Jaspan Schlesinger, LLP 2017 NY Slip Op 32082(U) September 29, 2017  Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 151482/2017 we see a claim that failure to supervise a vastly experienced partner in an LLP  is negligence.  Supreme Court permits discovery on the…

This is a sordid story of an attorney gone wrong, seriously wrong.  Whether getting precluded while handling a legal malpractice case was the straw or not, a wake of devastation has been left in his wake.

Matter of Pierre  2017 NY Slip Op 06999 Decided on October 5, 2017  Appellate Division, First Department  Per Curiam…

Attorney fees are the driver of what could be a majority of legal malpractice cases.  CLE lecturers consistently warn of the attorney fee-legal malpractice reflex arc, and with good reason.  Glassman v Weinberg 2017 NY Slip Op 06885 Decided on October 3, 2017  Appellate Division, First Department is a prime example.  Here the account stated…

In the world of big lending, a simple omission can cause large damages.  So it went in Scopia Windmill LP v Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP  2017 NY Slip Op 32031(U)  September 26, 2017
Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 650616/2016  Judge: Saliann Scarpulla.  Plaintiffs were investing in agriculture in order to get into the…

In one of the more confusing fact recitations we have come across, where Plaintiff in action 1 is Defendant in action 2 and where both parties are female, pronouns and party-designation does not help.  Whatever.  In Verkowitz v Ursprung  2017 NY Slip Op 06675  Decided on September 27, 2017  Appellate Division, Second Department the attorney…