In Macdonald v Guttman ;2010 NY Slip Op 03519 ;Decided on April 29, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Third Department  one gets a whif of some questionable behavior.  Plaintiff is the wife in a divorce action.  A footnote to the dcision tells us of the Husbands situation: "  Footnote 1:According to the complaint, Lucenti suffered from…

A recurring theme in legal malpractice litigation is the law firm which takes on a case, and just days before the statute of limitations runs out, says, we don’t want the case.  Courts often accept this type of behavior, reasoning that if the client has a good case, there are many attorneys who would take…

This is really the central question in legal malpractice.  While the popular conception is that one needs to find the mistakes, the truth is that there are mistakes in every human endeavor.  What counts in legal malpractice is the linkage to a bad outcome.  However, Justice Schaffer gives a much better response in Landau, P.C.

In Martinez v Te 2010 NY Slip Op 03391 ;Decided on April 27, 2010 ;Appellate Division, First Department Catterson, J.  Justice Catterson of the First Department discusses a trial gone wrong in Bronx County, and overrules Judge Wright’s post trial decision.
 

In this  medical malpractice case, the jury sent notes, and then decided against…

A trend in legal malpractice retainer agreements, especially in the Intellectual Property field is the all encompassing Arbitration clause.  Beyond the statutory required arbitration in attorney fee disputes below a certain dollar figure, these arbitration clauses require arbitration of all disputes, whether in tort, contract or other claims. 

Arbitration has long been said to be…

Legal malpractice sometimes seems to be the language franca in law news. It can show up in any setting. Here is a most unusual story from Law.com [link unavailable]:

"A legal malpractice lawsuit against Baker, Donelson, Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz stemming from a case involving a 6-ton marble sculpture of Jesus Christ’s face may proceed…

Sometimes its obvious what responsibilities the attorney will take on in a new representation.  If it’s a motor vehicle accident, then the attorney is hired to prosecute the personal injury action, up to and including trial.  Here, in  Hallman v Kantor ;2010 NY Slip Op 03280 ;Decided on April 20, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Second…

The perennial question of whether a prior proceeding might influence a later proceedings arises again in Feinberg v. Boros, 2010 NY Slip Op 30797, by Justice Emily Jane Goodman, in Supreme Court, New York County. 

The legal malpractice claim arose after an arbitration between plaintiff and his former business partner, where defendants acted as Feinberg’s…