The art of pleading is sometimes overstated.  Is it sufficient, indeed even preferable, to state the cause of action in understated tone, or is it better to explode with vicious terms?  The jury is still out, but in Carr v Hayes ;2012 NY Slip Op 01184 ;Decided on February 16, 2012 ;Appellate Division, First…

Inscrutable decisions tell us the outcome, but do not enlighten the path to the outcome.  Here are two cases, recently decided by the Second Department in which plaintiff lost a motion for summary judgment in a legal malpractice case.  Why?  What was the shortcoming in proof?  We simply don’t and won’t know.

Verdi v Jacoby …

Barely submerged below the decisions of trial and appellate courts is the fear that if legal malpractice litigation is given full rein, there will be a legal malpractice case which immediately follows every trial of any nature.  After all, the one thing that legal malpractice always has are claims of attorney misrepresentation, and every trial…

Client hires law firm, law firm is said to have made mistakes, law firm is said to have made corrective motions based upon its own mistakes, and then charged client. Law firm sues client, and client answers without filing a counterclaim.

Its not evident from the decision but we guess that client then hired an…

We’ve noted in the past that legal malpractice cases sometimes have a history of legal malpractice within them. As an example, Moray v Koven & Krause, Esqs. 2010 NY Slip Op 07573 ;Decided on October 26, 2010 ;Court of Appeals ;Read, J. serves well. it involves a legal malpractice case levied against a former…

Attorney represents client in a divorce case and then after a period of time (more than three years) represents client in a life insurance matter.  In Verkowitz v Ursprung ;2012 NY Slip Op 30284(U);
February 2, 2012; Sup Ct, Nassau County; Docket Number: 665/11; Judge: Anthony L. Parga we see the back and forth…

Sometimes a legal malpractice case goes to the jury on the real question of whether plaintiff could have prevailed in the underlying case (the "but for" issue) and sometimes the legal malpractice case is ended at the motion stage.  Here is one that was ended early.

Magidson v Badash ; 2012 NY Slip Op 00935…

Legal representation in even simple matters can lead to unintended consequences. As an Example  H & J Restaurant v, A & J Grand Enterprises and Leigh, 2009 Slip OP 31544, authored by Justice Edmead, demonstrates how a simple ministerial mistake can end up with a potential $ 400,000 loss, with later judgment against the…