Weekly Attorney Malpractice Update
Posted: December 6th, 2007
By: Andrew Bluestone, Esq.
Category: Attorney Malpractice, SHOWCASE CORNER, The News Beat

Cases This Week in Legal Malpractice

1. Duffy-Duncan v. Berns & Castro,2007 NY Slip Op 9493, 1st Dept, 11/29/07
Summary judgment denied and affirmed.  Attorney had failed to serve a notice of claim on a Transit Authority ice patch slip and fall.  Summary judgment denied for failure to demonstrate that the TA had a lack of notice of defense or a storm in progress defense.  This case is notable for the Appellate Division not taking the defenses at face value.

2. Asher v. Shimbaum, 2007 Slip Op 9351, 2d Dept, 11/27/07
Plaintiff’s underlying action was commenced to enforce an oral contract between brother and sister to convey real property.  Legal malpractice case is dismissed on the inability to prove the “but for” case: that plaintiff would have succeeded in the underlying action.

3. 3-Mar Service Center, Inc. v. Mahoney, Connor & Hussey, 2007 Slip Op 9363, 2d Dept, 2007
Motion to dismiss granted in Supreme Court but reversed in Appellate Division.  The decision does not give facts, but this was a successive [or even a third] motion to dismiss, after an earlier appeal.

4. Olaiya v. Golden, 2007 Slip Op 9377, 2d Dept, 2007
Plaintiff loses his job at the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice, but cannot demonstrate that the attorney’s conduct was the proximate cause of his job loss.

Stories This Week in Legal Malpractice

Legal malpractice, the First Amendment and a blogger got tangled up in a New Jersey case.  The underlying case concerns the Town of Manalapan and a land deal.  Legal malpractice litigation ensued.  Of interest here, an anonymous blogger has started writing about the case, and his internet provider is now being pursued for information about the blogger.  Electronic Frontier Foundation is now defending its subscriber. “da truth squad.”

The law firm of  Dorsey & Whitney and Judge Harold Baer of US District Court are in a battle over “declining civility in the legal profession.”  Judge Baer recently wrote a 129 page decision with a discussion of “naked competition and singular economic focus of the marketplace have begun to infiltrate the practice of law, subordinating the high standards of service, collegiality and professionalism as a result.”  So far, not so unusual.  The story takes a new turn with the attorney’s response.  Kristan L. Peters said: “It is hard to take seriously Judge Baer’s alleged concern for professional courtesy when he continues to treat women litigators like second class citizens in his court room, requires attorneys to physically oversee the return of documents in another country within a matter of hours when they are oversees on their anniversary, and sets depositions on Sunday mornings.  Indeed, when a Catholic lawyer asks for the opportunity to attend church before the Sunday deposition, he mocked the attorney for Catholic observance.”

Finally, the Dicky Scruggs story.  Bribery?  Big Tobacco litigation?  Legal malpractice?  This story is still unfolding.

For more on legal malpractice check out the New York Attorney Malpractice Blog.

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