Here is the story of an attorney who is retained to commence an underinsured motorist arbitration against an auto insurance carrier.  Apparently he makes the claim for arbitration, becomes suspended from the practice of law, (later disbarred) and watches while another attorney settles the claim for the clients.  is he due a fee, and did…

A theme that is becoming somewhat popular is that of a Judiciary law 487 claim when counsel moves to be relieved.  Often, the attorney uses stock phrases (refusal to pay expenses, conflict over strategy, inability to communicate) while the plaintiff urges that the attorney is making this up in order to be rid of a…

One may not sue the opponent’s attorney for legal malpractice, except for a very few and limited number of exceptions, yet the temptation to do so must be very high in matrimonial cases.  One tactic in custody proceedings is the false accusation of misconduct.  The wrongfully accused spouse would love to sue the other spouse’s…

Evedentaily, defendants made a well-intentioned but insufficient motion for summary judgment.  In this wrongful eviction case, the landlord turned to its attorney and made a legal malpractice claim.  Defendants moved to dismiss, but in Morad Assoc., LLC v Jay Sung Lee 2013 NY Slip Op 08204 [112 AD3d 463] December 10, 2013 Appellate Division, First…

The typical triumvirate of claims in a legal malpractice setting is Legal Malpractice, Breach of Contract and Breach of Fiduciary Duty.  Defendants almost always move to dismiss the second and third claims on the basis that they duplicate the legal malpractice claim and must be dismissed as "duplicitive."

in Chowaiki & Co. Fine Art Ltd. …

Judiciary Law 487 is a ancient attorney deceit statute which says, in essence, that it is a violation (and a misdemeanor) for an attorney to engage in deceit.  The statute is subject to the requirement to prove proximate cause as well as ascertainable damages. 

in Mizuno v Nunberg  2014 NY Slip Op 07481  Decided on…

We’ve noted that more legal malpractice cases seem to be dismissed on CPLR 3211 grounds than those in other fields of the law.  Endless Ocean, LLC v Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo  2014 NY Slip Op 00087 [113 AD3d 587]  January 8, 2014  Appellate Division, Second Department looks like on of them. …

We’ve said that legal malpractice issues are ubiquitous, and omnipresent.  That’s just another way of saying that where there are lawyers, and where they practice their human crafts, there will be mistakes and shortcomings.  This was true before the Magna Carta and is true today. 

One example of the evolving nature of legal malpractice issues…