Often, an appellate decision is phrased in mild, soothing language, masking the trench warfare taking place beneath the surface.  Polanco v Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP  2017 NY Slip Op 03707  Decided on May 9, 2017  Appellate Division, First Department is a prime example.  Note the level upon which defendants treated plaintiff’s expert.

Beyond the way…

Estate cases sometimes run into the dead man’s statute, and even if not, there are unique difficulties in providing proofs of intent, which are sometimes very, very important.  In Steffan v Wilensky  
2017 NY Slip Op 03602  Decided on May 4, 2017  Appellate Division, First Department plaintiff can no longer prove that the bank account…

Courts often take claims of attorney mistakes short of the outright failure to start a case not so seriously.  Many the act, which plaintiff claims is a departure, is said to be a failing but permitted strategic decision.  Not so in Caso v Miranda Sambursky Sloane Sklarin Ver Veniotis LLP
2017 NY Slip Op 03607  …

In legal malpractice cases it is presumed, generally conclusively, that an attorney is a fiduciary of the client.  That principle probably derives from the education and licensing of the attorney.  It can be true in many other relationships, as Milonakis v Haralampopoulos  2017 NY Slip Op   30863(U)  April 26, 2017  Supreme Court, New York County  …

The statute of limitations is a fierce barrier to litigation.  Time ticks by in an excruciating but unstoppable parade.  Three years can go by in a flash.  The only toll to the statute (barring another inevitable, death) is continuous representation.  It applies in legal malpractice as well as in accounting malpractice.  In Reville v Melvin …

Widlitz v Douglas Elliman, LLC  Decided on April 19, 2017  Supreme Court, New York County
Bluth, J. is a quintessential New York City story.  Basically, Plaintiff buys into a newly constructed building, does so long prior to completion of the building,  asks and expects “city views” but gets a view of a brick wall.  Whose…

In what appears to us to be a novel theory of law, Plaintiff in Olabopo v Scola   2017 NY Slip Op 30826(U)   April 21, 2017   Supreme Court,   New York County Docket Number: 157461/2016   Judge: Robert D. Kalish seems to be suing because Defendant attorneys did not take the case.  This is a different situation from…

Litigation is difficult, and takes a long time.  When snap decisions are made, they often add to the difficulties, not resolve them. Liew v Jeffrey Samel & Partners  2017 NY Slip Op 03165
Decided on April 26, 2017  Appellate Division, Second Department is an example.  While the parties were muddling towards trial, a sudden dismissal…