Here is the tension:  in order to toll the statute of limitations one must commence an action.  Sometimes there is not enough time to prepare a competent complaint and file it,.  The solution is a summons with notice.  The notice requirement is what separates a good summons (which may lead to a default judgment) from…

A crane topples at East 51st Street, and wrecks the development of a big building.  In the fallout, three legal malpractice law suits ensue, with many big-name attorneys suing or being sued.  How do the cases all fit together for trial?

Arbor Realty Funding, LLC v Herrick, Feinstein LLP  2013 NY Slip Op 51210(U)   Decided…

What happens when two deserving parties vie over the same zero-sum pot of money?  In this case it is a hard-working attorney with a charging lien and the children in a child-support proceeding upstate.  In Piccarreto v Mura   2013 NY Slip Op 23241   Decided on July 3, 2013   Supreme Court, Monroe County, Judge Dollinger writes a…

Up until now, we had always thought the question was answered and no was no longer in doubt.  One need not exhaust all appeals before starting a legal malpractice case.  In Grace v Law  
2013 NY Slip Op 05383  Released on July 19, 2013 Appellate Division, Fourth Department  we were surprised to see the…

Sometimes, Supreme Court of the State of New York acts like an appellate court in legal malpractice cases.  In Pasquale v Heppt 2013 NY Slip Op 31560(U) July 15, 2013
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 112890/2011 Judge: Doris Ling-Cohan we see one such example.  Note that plaintiff argues that a decision of…

Violation of a disciplinary rule alone is insufficient to uphold a legal malpractice cause of action.  We see, in Schlam Stone & Dolan, LLP v Poch   2013 NY Slip Op 51176(U)   Decided on July 9, 2013   Supreme Court, New York County   Hagler, J. how a cause of action for legal malpractice founders on the…

Plaintiff owes three banks, and one of them is really trying to recover its money.    Plaintiff recently transferred his home ownership to his wife.  Plaintiff goes to an attorney to discuss how to shield an upcoming inheritance from his father.  The attorney is willing to take two of the three cases, but not the third…

Some of the defendants ended up in Federal prison, and some ended up being sued.  Plaintiff ended up owing on a mortgage and not owning the house.  It’s all fallout of the mortgage crisis and now will go to trial.  Defendant attorney Dash was suspended for 5 years and the AD found that he co…