Rochester:   The course of litigation can be twisted, and early decisions often cause later havoc.  Such is the case in this 4th Department case.  Wright v Shapiro  2012 NY Slip Op 08964 [101 AD3d 1682]  December 21, 2012  Appellate Division, Fourth Department  tells us that plaintiff lost one position after another, ending with a…

Seller of real estate has a building with a 50 year lease ending.  Chase Bank has the lease, and long ago subleased the property for a profit.  Buyer says that he never saw the leases, and that $3750 per month is just not enough to run the building.

Attorney admits that he was sellers’ attorney…

Litigants get together to buy a restaurant.  Problems arise, and a legal malpractice action is commenced. The proceeds over which the litigants argue arose from a legal malpractice case.  The attorney successfully sued had failed to tell his clients that the attorney’s friend owned the property next door to a restaurant the clients were buying…

A large number of legal malpractice cases are dismissed at the beginning on CPLR 3211 motions.  We believe that legal malpractice cases are overrepresented in these dismissals.  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  is…

Red Zone LLC v Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP    2014 NY Slip Op 04570     Decided on June 19, 2014   Appellate Division, First Department is the latest wow legal malpractice case, since it ended in a $ 17.2 million award, and is sure to be the largest Legal Malpractice award of the year.  Yesterday we…

Claims are often made for multi-million dollar losses, and often they amount to a dream.  Here, in Red Zone LLC v Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP  2014 NY Slip Op 04570  Decided on June 19, 2014  Appellate Division, First Department  the case ends in a verdict for $ 17.2 million.

Of note is the…

We’ve remarked in the past that there seems to be an artificially high standard for plaintiff in legal malpractice cases.  On summary judgment we submit that the legal malpractice plaintiff has greater requirement to "disprove" the "but for" arguments of defendants than in any other sphere of law.  As an example Lincoln Trust v Spaziano   …

Attorney sues his former law firm.  At the arbitration, no expert is presented to value the law firm.  Arbitrators rule against the attorney.  He then finds second law firm to "assist in obtaining relief."  No relief is obtained, and the second law firm surreptitiously sets up a legal malpractice case against the "co-attorney."  Is this…