In our article on Matrimonial Legal Malpractice and settlements in to days New York Law Journal we discuss the recent line of cases which disturb the well settled principal that a legal malpractice case after settlement is permitted where the settlement was "effectively compelled" by the mistakes of counsel.

This new line of cases, starting…

We were recently asked whether an Expert, testifying in a legal malpractice case can commit legal malpractice during testimony in the case. We discussed whether there was an attorney-client relationship, and whether "absolute immunity" for in-court testimony applied. Now, Levine v Harriton & Furrer, LLP ; 2012 NY Slip Op 01401 ; Appellate Division, Third…

State Court cases may be removed to Federal Court in two instances.  One is where there is complete diversity of citizenship and the requisite dollar-damage amounts; the second is where the claim "arises" under federal law.  One such instance may be questions of legal malpractice in the patents area.  We are certainly aware of case…

Melcher v Greenberg Traurig, LLP   2013 NY Slip Op 00256   Decided on January 17, 2013
Appellate Division, First Department  is extraordinary.  It’s special for the facts, and for two holdings and the re-statement of a much overlooked principal all seriously affecting calculation of the statute of limitations. Now settled is the correct S/L statute for Judiciary Law 487, and whether there…

In the past several years we’ve been given unprecedented access to court records.  No more is it necessary to travel to the courthouse to review a file, nor must we wait for the clerk to mail (or not mail) a decision.  However, access to written decisions is not universal.  in Bullfrog, LLC v Nolan
2013…

Plaintiffs in legal malpractice suits are often in financial distress, and bankruptcy filings loom.  When a petition in bankruptcy is filed, significant changes to the debtors’ estate may take place.  There are differences when the filing takes place, and each of the three major chapters have different results, whether Chapter 7,11 or 13.  Here, in…

Attorneys automatically obtain a charging lien by commencing an action. There are several ways to lose that lien. One is to be terminated "for cause" and another is to withdraw voluntarily. This is different from being "consented out" or by withdrawing with mutual consent. In Nassour v Lutheran Med. Ctr. ;2010 NY Slip Op…

For a well written decision on one of the most complicated factual settings we can remember, read Oikonomos, Inc. v Bahrenberg   2013 NY Slip Op 50017(U)   Decided on January 5, 2013   Supreme Court, Suffolk County   Pines, J.   This legal malpractice-breach of fiduciary duty-breach of contract-fraud-promissory estoppel- equitable estoppel case has even more to it.  The…