Did Plaintiff paint himself into a corner, when he expanded a business and took on $100 million in personal guarantees, or did his attorneys fail him later, when litigation began?  That’s the question in Lichtenstein v Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP  2014 NY Slip Op 06242  Decided on September 18, 2014  Appellate Division, First Department.…

It’s well understood that non-pecuniary damages are not available in legal malpractice.  No damages for emotional distress, no damages for physical injury (think: heart attack) from legal malpractice and no damages for wrongful incarceration which are non-pecuniary.  Nevertheless, in D’Alessandro v Carro  2014 NY Slip Op 06246  Decided on September 18, 2014  Appellate Division, First…

Gajek v Schwartzapfel, Novick, Truowski & Marcus,  P.C.  2014 NY Slip Op 32418(U)  September 8, 2014  Supreme Court, Suffolk County  Docket Number: 12-2375  Judge: Ralph T. Gazzillo discusses the burden for both plaintiff and defendant.

For Defendant:  Schwartzapfel and Platt now move for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross claims against Platt.

A legal malpractice case which arises from a medical malpractice case gone wrong is (we believe) just about the most complicated case to litigate.  Plaintiff must first prove that there were departures from good legal representation, and then afterwards, must prove that there were departures from medical treatment which proximately caused damage.  Both legal and…

Motor Vehicle injuries are often a question of whether plaintiff suffered a "serious injury" within the meaning of the insurance Law.  A serious injury is defined as "death, dismbmberment, loss of an organ…"  Many a hurtful non-fracture does not qualify as a "serious injury" even though it is life-changing.  What does this mean for legal malpractice…

In today’s New York Law Journal   Christine Simmons has a truly shocking article about a law firm discovering that one of its attorneys was sending false bills to the client.  OK, this by itself is not so shocking, but the complaint also claims that the attorney created fake orders, forged the signature of a…

Courts have found many ways to award attorney fees and force litigants to pay them.  Sometimes it is on the merits and sometimes litigants are the losers on technical issues.  One of the more interesting wrinkles in legal malpractice  is the question of attorney fee awards and collateral estoppel of the subsequent legal malpractice case. 

Urias …

Fees in medical malpractice were lowered many years ago in hopes of curbing the "medical malpractice plague."  Our view is that the AMA has found that there are an incredible number of medical malpractice mistakes, and that litigation is the only way for a damaged patient to obtain reasonable compensation.

Whether you agree with that…