The question of how a competent and qualified attorney would handle a case is the crux of Bua v Purcell & Ingrao, P.C. 2012 NY Slip Op 06908    Appellate Division, Second Department . At issue is whether attorney committed malpractice in the termination of a real estate contract of sale.

"The plaintiff commenced this…

There is nothing new in the case of Jack Hall Plumbing & Heating, Inc. v Duffy 2012 NY Slip Op 07249   Appellate Division, Third Department , merely a restatement of the long-standing and settled rule that expert opinion is required to show that there was / was not a departure from good and accepted practice.

We have mused on the eagerness with which Courts sometimes exhibit in granting early dismissal of legal malpractice cases, sometimes prematurely grappling with the "but for" portion of the case well before a good record is developed.  In Carter Ledyard & Millburn LLP v Pearl Seas Cruises, LLC  2013 NY Slip Op…

High end financing companies tailored to the art and antique world hit a bare patch, and suddenly are in $20 Million + financing difficulties.  They hire plaintiff law firm in the Hahn & Hessen LLP v Peck   2013 NY Slip Op 33017(U)  November 25, 2013  Sup Ct, New York County  Docket Number: 603122/08  Judge:…

Supreme Court and the Appellate Division sometimes are able to perform surgery on a complaint, allowing provable claims and damages to remain in play while the balance is excised.  Such is the case in Morad Assoc., LLC v Lee   2013 NY Slip Op 08204   Decided on December 10, 2013
Appellate Division, First Department.   
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Wherever attorneys do their work the question of legal malpractice may arise. In today’s New York Law Journal, Joel Cohen and James Bernard present an excellent compilation of potential legal malpractice issues in the ESI area.  Investigation of electronically stored information has become a central issue in litigation since the Zabulake v. USB Warburg decision. …

It seems that Lacher & Lovell-Taylor PC were attorneys working for Lloyd’s of London.  They ran into disputes with the carrier, and in this New York county case, not only had to pay back monies, but were also found not to be covered for a malpractice case.  Here the AD determines that a demand for the…

Legal Malpractice, we often think, is a body of law, written by lawyers, concerning lawyers, judged by lawyers and results in decisions concerning solely lawyers.  However, sometimes this is simply not true.  Venecia V. v August V.  2013 NY Slip Op 08140  Decided on December 5, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department  Saxe, J., J. …