Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP v Toussie  2020 NY Slip Op 06874 Decided on November 19, 2020 Appellate Division, First Department is an example of how the account stated doctrine works for attorneys.

“Plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment on its account stated claim, as it submitted documentary evidence showing that defendant Robert I. Toussie…

Flintlock Constr. Servs., LLC v Rubin, Fiorella & Friedman, LLP  2020 NY Slip Op 06711 Decided on November 17, 2020 Appellate Division, First  Department seems to be a case that could have been won, it it had been brought in 2016 rather than in 2018.

“Plaintiff, a general contractor, entered into a construction agreement with…

Jewell Law, PLLC v Ruci  2020 NY Slip Op 33648(U) November 3, 2020
Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 655702/2019
Judge: Arthur F. Engoron displays some unique inductive reasoning, and some conventional legal reasoning.  Breach of Fiducary duty is dismissed in an unconventional matter.  Legal malpractice is more conventionally decided.

“This Court finds that…

Hudson Yards LLC v Segal  2020 NY Slip Op 06353 Decided on November 05, 2020 Appellate Division, First Department is another case in which the brutal “but for” causation rule in legal malpractice ends a case.

“To recover damages for legal malpractice, the plaintiff must establish that the attorney (1) “failed to exercise that degree…

Olsen v Smith 2020 NY Slip Op 06214 [187 AD3d 675] October 29, 2020
Appellate Division, First Department is a familiar trope.  Supreme Court and the Appellate Division look over a pro-se complaint and find it wanting.

“In this action for legal malpractice, plaintiff alleges that defendants’ mishandling of her defense in a Family Court…

In this case, the claim was that the attorney should have inquired about insurance that Plaintiff had, rather than taking the case and charging the client for representation that the insurance company would have provided.

The jury found otherwise.  in Cohen v Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C.,  2020 NY Slip Op 06050 [187 AD3d 634]…

Plaintiff hired Defendant attorney to represent him in both a criminal and a civil matter.  The civil matter went wrong, and Plaintiff sued.  Defendant argued that you may not sue a criminal defense attorney absent a showing of “actual innocense.”  True enough, but…

“The court properly denied the motion to dismiss the first cause of…

Plaintiffs often wonder how their damages are computed.  One possible element of damages are the legal fees spent in defense of the underlying case. This is the central lesson of Rudolph v. Shayne Dachs  and it is the less of 83 Willow, LLC v Apollo 2020 NY Slip Op 05843 [187 AD3d 563] October 20,…