When we see a business start up and close rapidly, we often wonder how could this happen.  When we see a shuttered restaurant we wonder how one entrepreneur’s dream could go so wrong.  Here, in Wo Yee Hing Realty Corp. v. Stern, Supreme Court, New York County, Justice Debra James we guess at three…

It’s rarely the mistake (the departure) upon which plaintiff and defense battle in legal malpractice.  It is almost always the "but for" part of the equation, in which plaintiff must show a departure, but for which there would have been a better and different outcome, in which the mistake and the outcome are proximately related…

In Barocca v Garten, 2012 NY Slip Op 30609(U) March 1, 2012 Supreme Court, Nassau County
Docket Number: 5249/11 Judge: Antonio I. Brandveen faced a situation in which plaintiff had a long series of communications with the defendant’s attorney, and then served a summons with notice on the defendant’s attorney.  Does this constitute good…

The interplay of bankruptcy and personal injury or legal malpractice cases is complicated.  Basically, once one files a Chapter 7 petition, all assets, including the penny in petitioner’s pocket becomes part of the Bankruptcy estate. That estate includes any personal injury claims, and even any future legal malpractice claims.  If they are listed in the…

Kenneth M. Block, Esq. and John-Patrick Curran Esq. write that the line between tort and contract claims in architectural negligence cases has become blurred over the years.  Both legal and architectural negligence claims were at one time strictly divided into tort and contract sides of the equation.  Each had its own statute of limitations, and each…

We are often struck by the human element and how it interacts with the institutional element of litigation. Schedules are packed, attorneys have many cases, court dates go unrecorded, attorneys just don’t show up for conferences, and yet the cases go on. We believe that even in a successful case for one side or the…

Irony has little place in litigation, yet it abounds. In Perez-Faringer v Heilman ; 2010 NY Slip Op 09238 ; Decided on December 14, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Second Department plaintiff, pro-se in the action below, and in the appeal, has had the action dismissed, for the mere and easily avoidable failure to serve a…

In what may be her last published decision before retirement Justice Emily Jane Goodman enters a field that has not been touched for years, and for which there seemed to be certainty on what damages were permitted.  In legal malpractice, a claim by a criminal defendant for legal malpractice  is almost never successful, and when it…