For those with any knowledge of the history of the statute of limitations in legal malpractice, there was once a time in which a three year s/l for tort and a six year s/l for contract existed.  Under the Court of Appeals in Santulli it was permissible.  In response the Legislature passed CPLR 214-6:

" an…

In Denenberg v Rosen ;2010 NY Slip Op 00081 ;Decided on January 7, 2010 ;Appellate Division, ;First Department ; Moskowitz, J. the question of when the relationship begins between client and attorney is discussed.  Plaintiff, who was a knowledgeable investor, as a commodities trader, formed a retirement account that was ultimately disallowed by the…

We have written that legal malpractice cases arise from a large base of underlying matters.  Here is a huge NY case that starts in Austria, travels east to Russia, and then is dismissed in New York.  In this story from the NYLJ by Nate Raymond we see how an Austrian Bank which lost it all…

We’ve discussed the oft-found fact situation of how a fee determination by a bankruptcy court may block a later legal malpractice action.  In Breslin Realty Dev. Corp. v Shaw ;  2010 NY Slip Op 00087 Decided on January 5, 2010; Appellate Division, Second Department; Chambers, J., J.  the court writes persuasively about the concept:
 …

Criminal defendants have a well known and exacting path.  Arrest, Indictment, Trial, Appeal, CPL 440 Motion (or its federal equivalent) habeas proceedings, and finally, they often turn to a legal malpractice action.  In New York there is a strict prohibition against suing ones criminal defense attorney.  Its sort of a quasi-immune situation.  "New York law also…

Continuing the trend towards a combination of bankruptcy and legal malpractice, we note that bankruptcy follows, and rarely precedes legal malpractice situations, hence, we expect a swell of the intersection following the financial down-trends of the past year.  Here, Tabner v Drake
2009 NY Slip Op 10006; Decided on December 31, 2009 ; Appellate Division, Third…

Plaintiff suffers a construction accident, and his attorneys wait too long to bring the action.  He had a Labor Law 200.240, 241 and other claims, typical in a gravity-fall construction case.  His attorney admit that they waited too long to commence the action, but was successful in dismissal of the Labor la 200 and 240…

In today’s NYLJ, Abraham B. Krieger writes a compelling article about "negligent referral ", and gives some history and out of state cases, along with a discussion of NY cases in the area.  To backtrack, Mr. Krieger writes: "Recently, New York’s Appellate Divisions in the First, Second and Third departments, and a number of other…