It really does not get any better than this, in the legal malpractice world. Client asks "Does the Judge dislike me?" Attorney answers "No, the judge is fair." In this story, however, it is all reversed. From Thomson Reuters, "Judge Steps Aside in Case of Alleged Car vandal"
"NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) –…
Gardner v Leitgeb & Vitelli, LLP ;2012 NY Slip Op 50282(U) ;Decided on February 17, 2012 ;Supreme Court, Suffolk County ;Emerson, J. presents an interesting story of parents v. children, with professionals in the middle. More interesting, fraud, associatinos with organized crime, and a pizza location are all added in the mix of ingrediants. …
Equitable Estoppel is a principal which comes into play most often when a case is not commenced within the statute of limitations. The theory is that plaintiff was lulled into not starting the case by a wrongful act of defendant. Considering that blown statutes of limitations are one well recognized basis for legal malpractice cases…
Reading the decision in a case like this requires both a score card and a play diagram. In LZG Realty LLC v H.D.W. 2005 Forest LLC ;2010 NY Slip Op 50958(U) ;
Supreme Court, Richmond County ; McMahon, J. a series of real estate transactions led to mortgages, foreclosure and charges of professional negligence and…
The art of pleading is sometimes overstated. Is it sufficient, indeed even preferable, to state the cause of action in understated tone, or is it better to explode with vicious terms? The jury is still out, but in Carr v Hayes ;2012 NY Slip Op 01184 ;Decided on February 16, 2012 ;Appellate Division, First…
Inscrutable decisions tell us the outcome, but do not enlighten the path to the outcome. Here are two cases, recently decided by the Second Department in which plaintiff lost a motion for summary judgment in a legal malpractice case. Why? What was the shortcoming in proof? We simply don’t and won’t know.
Barely submerged below the decisions of trial and appellate courts is the fear that if legal malpractice litigation is given full rein, there will be a legal malpractice case which immediately follows every trial of any nature. After all, the one thing that legal malpractice always has are claims of attorney misrepresentation, and every trial…
Client hires law firm, law firm is said to have made mistakes, law firm is said to have made corrective motions based upon its own mistakes, and then charged client. Law firm sues client, and client answers without filing a counterclaim.
Its not evident from the decision but we guess that client then hired an…
We’ve noted in the past that legal malpractice cases sometimes have a history of legal malpractice within them. As an example, Moray v Koven & Krause, Esqs. 2010 NY Slip Op 07573 ;Decided on October 26, 2010 ;Court of Appeals ;Read, J. serves well. it involves a legal malpractice case levied against a former…
Attorney represents client in a divorce case and then after a period of time (more than three years) represents client in a life insurance matter. In Verkowitz v Ursprung ;2012 NY Slip Op 30284(U);
February 2, 2012; Sup Ct, Nassau County; Docket Number: 665/11; Judge: Anthony L. Parga we see the back and forth…
