It is said that problems, or bad things, come in threes. In this example, the client lost a contract action, in which he had good counterclaims, because of his attorney’s failures. Plaintiff then sues the attorney, and in Benson Park Assoc., LLC v Herman ; 2010 NY Slip Op 03847 ;Decided on May 6, 2010…

PROTOSTORM, LLC and PETER FAULISI, Plaintiffs, -against- ANTONELLI, TERRY, STOUT & KRAUS, LLP, DALE HOGUE, FREDERICK D. BAILEY, CARL I. BRUNDIDGE, and ALAN SCHIAVELLI, Defendants/Third-Party Plaintiffs, -against- KATHY WORTHINGTON, Third-Party Defendant/Cross-Claimant, -against- DUVAL & STACHENFELD LLP and JOHN J. GINLEY, III, Third-Party Defendants/Cross-Defendants is the story of attorneys taking on work, and then blithly…

This US District Court case explores the boundary between civil and criminal matters, and how representation in both is parsed during a later legal malpractice case.  ALLEN WOLFSON, Plaintiff, -against- CHRISTOPHER BRUNO, Defendant;  08 Civ. 0481 (AJP); UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK; 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144978;  December 16…

In Doviak v Finkelstein & Partners, LLP ; 2011 NY Slip Op 09085 ; Decided on December 13, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Second Department  the Court has to decide whether a failure to report an offer by defendants to settle the case might be sufficient to demonstrate legal malpractice, as well as to forfeit legal…

Cohen v Engoron, 2009 Slip Op 32521 is a fascinating look at the lower end of legal malpractice litigation. In this case, plaintiff is an incarcerated inmate who tried to sue his attorney for the return of $ 8500 in legal fees. While being incarcerated was painful for plaintiff, his attorney suffered a worse…

Once upon a time, an attorney got a job and stayed there for life.  Now, attorneys move from one firm to the next, and carry on litigation as they move.  How does the Court parse liability between predecessor and successor attorneys in these mobile days?

Phoenix Erectors, LLC v Fogarty ; 2011 NY Slip Op…

Sometimes, the world of legal malpractice seems to be topsy-turfy in the sense that defendants point to their acts as proof that they did not commit legal malpractice, and plaintiffs point to the same act to prove the opposite.  Here in Marom v Anselmo ; 2011 NY Slip Op 08914 ; Decided on December 6…

We admit that sometimes we do not understand how a defendant can actually raise a defense that both it and the Court knows won’t pass a smell test.  Nevertheless, the defense gets raised. 

In M & R Ginsburg, LLC v Segal, Goldman, Mazzotta & Siegel, P.C. ; 2011 NY Slip Op 08877
Decided on December…