Sometimes events take place long after the attorney – client relationship has ended.  There are two arguments over whether the statute of limitations has run.  One is that the statute commences when the mistake is made and might be tolled by the continuous representation doctrine.  The other is that  the statute cannot commence to run…

In this legal malpractice case which was dismissed and then affirmed on appeal, the decision reveals so wide a difference in analysis of the corporate and loan documents that it is astonishing.  In Manus v Flamm   2013 NY Slip Op 07683   Decided on November 19, 2013   Appellate Division, First Department plaintiff presents a claim that…

We’re proud and pleased that the New York Law Journal published "Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice" today.  From the article:

"
The statute of limitations sets the maximum time during which an action for damages may be commenced. It is of ancient heritage. Its first appearance in Anglo-American law is as early as 1237.

Here is a textbook example of how the statute of limitations in legal malpractice is stretched to the extreme, yet plaintiff loses.  In 2003 defendants wrote an opinion letter which was contrary to the IRS determination which came in 2007.  Attorneys (or related attorneys) were retained in 2007 to fight the IRS and lost in…

A win at trial and a loss on Appeal in this legal malpractice case was based upon Plaintiff’s potential comparative fault.  Hattem v Smith    2013 NY Slip Op 07791  Decided on November 21, 2013  Appellate Division, Third Department is the story of a fairly straight-forward sale of a business coupled with the failure to file…

OK, say you’re a law firm, and the client is a Board of Managers, and the President is an Attorney.  You do work for them, and things don’t go well.  You can blame the "micro-managing" President/Attorney, no?

Well, in Board of Mgrs. of Bridge Tower Place Condominium v Starr Assoc. LLP  2013 NY Slip…

Settlements including pleas to criminal charges are the linchpin of an orderly system of justice.  As any prosecutor, and indeed, any litigator knows, only a very small portion of cases can be tried to a fact finder.  if 95% of all civil cases, and a similar amount of criminal cases were not subject to disposition…

Plaintiff hires law firm to handle labor law case, Defendant is then hired to handle the appeal from dismissal of the case.  The appeal was dismissed for want of prosecution in 2006.  The law firm did not tell the client, and in 2008 wrote a letter telling him that the judgment was affirmed.  The legal…