Proximate cause is a complicated way of describing the probability that x leads to y.  If it is more likely than not (preponderance of the evidence) that if x, then y, then proximate cause has been made out.  However, lawyers are less mathematicians than storytellers.  Hence, supposition is a frequent bar to proximate cause,  even…

Lest we forget the snow and ice of winter, here on a lovely August morning, Bianco v Law Offs. of Yuri Prakhin  2020 NY Slip Op 07849 [189 AD3d 1326] December 23, 2020 Appellate Division, Second Department brings back the slippery chilly days of January.

“The plaintiff allegedly slipped and fell on ice on a…

Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way in guidance to the bar. Aqua-Trol Corp. v Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A.  2021 NY Slip Op 04652  Decided on August 11, 2021 Appellate Division, Second Department reverses a grant of summary judgment, but gives only the blackletter description of what was missing in defendant’s motion.

“In…

Merely having a good legal malpractice claim is not enough.  Plaintiff must properly prosecute the claim.  Forgetting the potential irony of losing a legal malpractice case for failing to follow a court rule, Allstar Elecs., Inc. v DeLuca  2020 NY Slip Op 07018 [188 AD3d 1121]
November 25, 2020 Appellate Division, Second Department demonstrates the…

It really does not matter how many times one goes to the well;  there is either water or no water.  In Armatas v Kestenbaum 2020 NY Slip Op 07846 [189 AD3d 1319] December 23, 2020 Appellate Division, Second Department a city attorney-defendant kept at it until the case was dismissed on all grounds, actual or…

United States Life Ins. Co. in the City of N.Y. v Horowitz  2021 NY Slip Op 01877 [192 AD3d 613] March 25, 2021 Appellate Division, First Department os the rare case in which the Appellate Division soundingly finds that a Judiciary Law § 487 claim is stated.

“Judiciary Law § 487 (1) provides that an…

The Big Accounting firms in the US dispense CPA and some legal advice on taxes.  How to parse one from the other is discussed in Boesky v Levine  2021 NY Slip Op 02059 [193 AD3d 403] April 1, 2021 Appellate Division, First Department.

“The motion court properly dismissed as time barred the legal malpractice claims…

The statute of limitations is approaching, yet the underlying case is not yet finished. How to handle this problem?  Aydiner v Karasik Law Group, P.C.  2021 NY Slip Op 30781(U) March 15, 2021 Supreme Court, Richmond County Docket Number: 151944/2020 Judge: Ralph J. Porzio catalogues the possibilities.

“The key question in the instant Motion is…