Santaro v Finocchio 2023 NY Slip Op 05836 Decided on November 17, 2023 Appellate Division, Fourth Department illustrates the inherent bias towards attorneys that courts have always taken. Not forgetting that attorneys write and legislate the rules, which are then applied and considered by attorneys who are judging other attorneys, it is no surprise that…

Roedelbronn v Borstein & Sheinbaum LLC 2023 NY Slip Op 05670 Decided on November 09, 2023 Appellate Division, First Department demonstrates the interplay between appeals (and other findings) in the underlying case and success in a subsequent legal malpractice case. Here, the court initially found that the continuing representation doctrine successfully tolled the statute of…

In Mrkulic v Peters 2023 NY Slip Op 33930(U) November 2, 2023
Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: Index No. 505025/2020
Judge Debra Silber points out a vast number of errors that took place before she was assigned to the case. She rules that none can be fixed by her.

“In Motion Sequence #6, defendants…

A commonly recurring theme in legal malpractice is the application of the privity requirement. That requirement basically (always with some exceptions) prohibits legal malpractice claims against an attorney with whom the Plaintiff does not have privity of contract. One common subset arises when the attorney represents an entity, and where the individual members or shareholders…

In Guliyev v Banilov & Assoc., P.C. 2023 NY Slip Op 05493 Decided on November 1, 2023 Appellate Division, Second Department the clients sue in legal malpractice and say that the underlying MVA case was settled without their consent. They lose the legal malpractice on collateral estoppel grounds as well as for failure to show…

Bachman-Richards v Pomeroy 2023 NY Slip Op 05431 Decided on October 26, 2023 Appellate Division, Third Department is the kind of case that defendants like to point out when they argue that clients cannot be trusted. The Court found that plaintiff consulted with an attorney in reaching a separation agreement from her husband. Later she…

Prospect Capital Corp. v Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 2023 NY Slip Op 33797(U)
October 25, 2023 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 653941/2022 Judge: Margaret A. Chan is a very unusual example of a court hearing a reargument motion and changing its mind. The judge notes in minute detail the court’s…

In what appears ended up as a pro-se breach of fiduciary duty law suit, in Pacelli v Peter L. Cedeno & Assoc., PC 2023 NY Slip Op 05448 Decided on October 26, 2023
Appellate Division, First Department Plaintiff loses the claim for failure to connect pecuniary loss with the allegations of a breach.…