Mineola, NY: In an appeal from the decision and order of Supreme Court, Nassau County, the Second Department reminds all that the statute of limitations is an unforgiving obstacle.
Quinn v McCabe, Collins, McGeough & Fowler, LLP 2016 NY Slip Op 03153 Decided on April 27, 2016 Appellate Division, Second Department discusses the statute, continuous…
It is often and disparagingly said that legal malpractice cases exist solely to get out of obligations to pay attorney fees. Sometimes that appears to be true. Popkin v Kopoulos Decided on April 22, 2016 District Court Of Nassau County, First District Fairgrieve, J. is the story of an attorney who prepared a retainer agreement…
Plaintiff pled an adequate cause of action for himself, but could not plead adequately for his corporation. This outcome is generally the opposite of what one might expect in a legal malpractice case in which the individual is often not in privity with the attorney while the corporation is. Brion v Moreira 2016 NY Slip…
Client is a big-time hedge fund earner, getting $5 and $6 million in bonuses over the years. Suddently, the bottom falls out, and he is offered severeness of only $ 1.6 million. He consults with defendants who tell him that they can help. However, defendants divert from the contractually set-up appeal procedure and plaintiff ends…
Weight v Day 2015 NY Slip Op 09093 [134 AD3d 806] December 9, 2015 Appellate Division, Second Department is an accounting malpractice case with implications for the legal malpractice field. The statute of limitations begins to run, the Second Department tells us, when there is a verifiable and concrete end to the representation. The basics…
Sure, there is a requirement that attorneys provide a retainer agreement or a letter setting forth the work to be performed and the costs. However, the Appellate Division has ruled that an attorney can collect fees even in the absence of a retainer agreement in Seth Rubenstein v. Ganea. So, what does it matter…
Sometimes the Appellate Division will opine and give its full reasoning, sometimes not. In Soubbotin v Joseph Potashnik & Assoc., PLLC 2016 NY Slip Op 02800 Decided on April 13, 2016 Appellate Division, Second Department the AD merely said that an argument put forward by the attorneys did not even make it to the prima…
Bad result suggests that a bad choice was made by the attorneys. The bad result/choice suggests that a legal malpractice case might be indicated. This is fair reasoning, but Courts often fail to join in the analysis, and point to a different cause of the bad result. Put another way, lots of legal malpractice cases…
While the non-attorney was but a small part of this case and non-disclosure was a larger part of the case, this case was dismissed mostly because it is very difficult to succeed on a legal malpractice matrimonial case unless one can show that the monied spouse hid significant assets.
What happens when NY clients engage in Georgia real estate transactions and the deal goes sour? The short answer is that you sue the attorney, if it was (even arguably) the attorney’s fault. Where do you sue? NY is definitely easier, and may have laws which favor plaintiff. The sticking point is due process and…
