In matrimonial litigation, cases routinely end with an in-court settlement which includes an allocution of the parties.  Husband and wife are both asked whether they understand the settlement, and importantly, whether they “are satisfied with the work of their attorney.”  In a line of cases the First Department has writeen (as in Harvey v. Greenberg)…

From time to time the appellate divisions decide cases and introduce “stray” or previously unstated standards.  Whether this is merely a “restatement” of a previously enunciated standard of when the 487 claim may be brought in a new proceeding versus when it must be brought in the underlying proceedings is up in the air.  Previously,…

Legal malpractice litigation gets a bad name when critics can point to cases such as Lipin v Hunt
2016 NY Slip Op 01746  Decided on March 10, 2016  Appellate Division, First Department. More like Moby Dick than reasoned litigation, Plaintiff ends up prevented from starting any new cases about her father’s estate.  How did the…

OK, the title to this blog entry is a tad cynical, but what other course might plaintiffs in this case have had.  They purchased a residential property on Clinton Street in Brooklyn.  Let’s assume its a town house in Brooklyn Heights, and they spent, perhaps $ 5 million.  Then they discover that the prior seller…

This case is puzzling. Manhattan Sports Rests. of Am., LLC v Lieu  2016 NY Slip Op 01617
Decided on March 8, 2016  Appellate Division, First Department First, the attorneys.  Both plaintiff’s and defendant’s law firms are unusual for a case of this type.  Second, the facts are bizarre.

“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Peter…

Legal malpractice is the child of medical malpractice.  It seems that attorneys (long, long ago) helped forge the concept of professional responsibility for poor medical care, well before the same analysis was applied to legal care.  Long ago the quality of medical care varied widely between communities, and the “locality rule” was applied, so that…

The facts behind Financial Servs. Veh. Trust v Saad  2016 NY Slip Op 01637   Decided on March 9, 2016 Appellate Division, Second Department are tragic.  Saad strikes two pedestrians and kills both.  He had leased a car, and since this was one of the few motor vehicle accidents that involved “grave injury” the commercial lessor…

All too often in legal malpractice cases Courts seem willing, even eager, to dismiss at the CPLR 3211 stage.  We think, based upon anecdotal evidence, that the percentage of legal malpractice cases dismissed on this motion exceeds that of all other types of cases.  Leading Ins. Group Ins. Co., Ltd. v Friedman LLP  2016 NY…