Whether attorney for Plaintiff or for defendant, each practitioner in the Legal Malpractice field has either a professional or personal interest in legal malpractice insurance.  No one, whether prosecuting or defending legal malpractice cases wants to lose or have coverage excluded, and attorneys do not want to have coverage lost for the defendants in a…

Worker is injured on the job by a paving machine.  Worker collects WC benefits from his employment.  Worker sues paving machine manufacturer in products liability, and his attorney blows the statute.  Worker succeeds in legal malpractice.  May WC carrier recoup benefits?

Had the case been tried as a products liability case [not legal malpractice] in…

Plaintiff sued his former criminal defense attorney because the attorney did not perfect an appeal.  So far, so good.  What followed shows how difficult litigation can be, and in how many ways a good case can go awry.  Consider, for example, whether there could be a legal malpractice case against the attorney. The answer is probably…

Judges retire or don’t stand for re-election, and then look for a new job.  That’s expected and no one is surprised when they surface as a partner in biglaw, or in a prestigious local firm.  This story borders on the extreme.Charles Toutant of the New Jersey Law Journal reports:

"Lawyers who engaged a retiring…

Yesterday we examined this case: Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division, Third Department  on the issue of when an expert is necessary.  Today, we look at how a referring attorney, [or a supervising attorney] may become responsible for the…

The short answer to the question of when an expert is necessary in legal malpractice is "most of the time."  Here in this case, Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division, Third Department  we see the slightly longer answer…

We are continuing to discuss the Gotay case, 2008 NY Slip Op 08432. 

Defendants remain in the case on the basis that it was unclear that they intended to, or actually had ended their representation.  CPLR 321 is the manner in which an attorney ends the relationship, absent a court order.  In this long-running medical…

Law.Com reports the Gotay v. Brietbart2008 NY Slip Op 08432
Decided on November 6, 2008
Appellate Division, First Department
Lippman, P.J., case.  This case addresses what may be the last reference to a change in New York law which roiled the waters for several years.  Once, long ago, an action was commenced by service of…