Klein v Rieff  2016 NY Slip Op 00482  Decided on January 27, 2016  Appellate Division, Second Department is a fascinating story, and could well serve as a bar exam all by itself.  It deals with the owners of nursing homes and the fallout from their breakup.  The gist of the story is the loser in…

Legal malpractice litigation is unique, and has a set of principles and doctrines that are applicable only when suing an attorney.  Janker v Silver, Forrester & Lesser, P.C.  2016 NY Slip Op 00481  Decided on January 27, 2016  Appellate Division, Second Department is a primer for review.

“The plaintiff’s former husband commenced an action for…

Bad cases make bad law is a mantra in the world of litigating attorneys.  An otherwise vibrant doctrine may be undermined by decisions arising from less than optimal cases.  One such example is a textbook example of why JL 487 claims are “disfavored” and applied so stringently.

Hersh v Weg  2015 NY Slip Op 30698(U)  …

Judiciary Law 487 claims are difficult.  They are disfavored, as our discussions over the past three weeks has shown.  Appellate Courts appear (but do not explicitly state) to require a higher standard of proof, and have used the word “clear” in their descriptions of the standard of JL 487 proofs, bringing to mind a “clear…

Two items caught our notice this morning, and though unrelated, sound a similar theme.  Fraud on the Court in one and feigned issues of fact in the other compliment the idea of how the truth divining process happens in litigation. Somehow, even creakily, the process of cross-examination and discovery seem to work.

In Scheuer v. …

Reem Contr. v Altschul & Altschul  2016 NY Slip Op 30059(U)  January 12, 2016  Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 104202/2011  Judge: Kelly O’Neill Levy  is an example of the odd situation in which a legal malpractice case is a catalog of procedural errors.  Defendants do not answer, then obtain an extension and then…

There have been lingering questions about procedural aspects of Judiciary Law 487 that have never been completely explained.  One earlier question, answered in 2014 was the length of the statute of limitations, 3 years or 6 years. That question was answered by the Court of Appeals  and is 6 years.

Melcher v Greenberg Traurig LLP…

In a continuing review of last years Judiciary Law 487 cases, we see the Second Department refusing to consider a JL 487 case where the proximate damages are unclear, or cannot be reasonably inferred.  Gumarova v Law Offs. of Paul A. Boronow, P.C.  2015 NY Slip Op 05155 [129 AD3d   911]  June 17, 2015  …