Defendants made an offer to settle the case.  Plaintiff’s attorneys did not communicate the offer to Plaintiff.  Plaintiff never got the chance to consider it.  Summary judgment granted shortly thereafter.  Problem for the attorneys?  Not in Drasche v Edelman & Edelman, P.C.  2021 NY Slip Op 30429(U) February 12, 2021 Supreme Court, New York County…

Successful claims under Judiciary Law 487 are rare.  In recent years they have been applied widely and with diminishing success.  Here, the claim is essentially that the corporation’s attorneys defended a law suit and in doing so engaged in deceit.  In Dial Car Inc. v Tuch & Cohen, LLP  2021 NY Slip Op 30407(U) February…

People v Austin  2021 NY Slip Op 30276(U) January 29, 2021 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 451533/2019
Judge: O. Peter Sherwood is the unusual government case in which a legal malpractice issue is inserted.  Here one defendant cross-claims against another defendant for legal malpractice.

“In 2014. the Attorney General’s office (‘”AG”) began an…

Volpe v Munoz & Assoc., LLC  2021 NY Slip Op 00516 Decided on January 28, 2021 Appellate Division, First Department gives a bullet point review of how this case failed:

“The complaint fails to state a cause of action for legal malpractice. First, it does not allege an attorney-client relationship between the attorneys and plaintiff.…

The claim in Berkovits v Berkovits  2021 NY Slip Op 00406 Decided on January 27, 2021Appellate Division, Second Department is not matrimonial, it is patriarchal.  Father alleges that son defrauded him over valuable assets.  For our purposes, there is also a claim against his attorneys for not explaining the deal.

“The plaintiff Joseph Berkovits alleges…

Pace v Horowitz  2021 NY Slip Op 00392 Decided on January 26, 2021
Appellate Division, First Department illustrates the power of the “date of mistake” statute of limitations in legal malpractice.  Despite the problem that many mistakes do not surface for a long time, Courts rigorously apply the statute of limitations and are parsimonious in…

Pre-Answer Dismissal of complaints is given outsized importance in legal malpractice litigation.  Anecdotally, a higher percentage of legal malpractice cases are dismissed pre-answer than those in the general population of litigation cases.  Zeppieri v Vinson 2021 NY Slip Op 00348
Decided on January 21, 2021 Appellate Division, Third Department describes how 3211(a)(1) is used.

“”A…

Gramted. its a case from small claims court, and granted, it’s the Appellate Term, not the Appellate Division, but the rules recited in Law Offs. of Lydia C. Hills, P.C. v Holguin  2021 NY Slip Op 50032(U) [70 Misc 3d 135(A)] Decided on January 15, 2021 Appellate Term, Second Department remain true.

“Attorneys representing…