Legal Malpractice

May You Settle a Case and Then Sue for Legal Malpractice?

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

In Leone v Silver & Silver, LLP ; 2009 NY Slip Op 04204 ; Decided on May 26, 2009
Appellate Division, Second Department we see that merely settling a case does not deprive plaintiff of the right to sue the attorney, so long as the settlement was effectively compelled by the acts of the target attorney. If the attorney's acts caused plaintiff to be in a position where settlement was the correct choice, there may still be liability for the attorney.
 

"The gravamen of the plaintiff's complaint is that the defendants failed to protect her interest in connection with the fraudulent conveyance of certain real property. In order to prevail on this claim, the plaintiff must establish both that the defendants "failed to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession" (Rudolf v Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 NY3d 438, 442; see Davis v Klein, 88 NY2d 1008, 1009-1010) and that their breach of this duty proximately caused her actual and ascertainable damages (see Rudolf v Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 NY3d at 442; see Hearst v Hearst, 50 AD3d 959, 963; Bauza v Livington, 40 AD3d 791, 792-793). To succeed on their motion for summary judgment, the defendants were required to establish, through the submission of evidentiary proof in admissible form, that the plaintiff is unable to prove at least one of the essential elements of the cause of action (see Suydam v O'Neill, 276 AD2d 549; Ostriker v Taylor, Atkins & Ostrow, 258 AD2d 572). The Supreme Court correctly concluded that the defendants failed to do so here. Contrary to the defendants' contention, the plaintiff's decision to settle an action to recover the property, rather than risk dismissal on the basis of the defense of laches allegedly caused by their conduct, does not preclude the plaintiff from maintaining a subsequent action against them to recover damages for legal malpractice (see N.A. Kerson Co. v Shayne, Dachs, Weiss, Kolbrenner, Levy & Levine, 45 NY2d 730, 732; Tortura v Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo, 21 AD3d 1082, 1083; Rau v Borenkoff, 262 AD2d 388, 389; Lattimore v Bergman, 224 AD2d 497). The Supreme Court, therefore, properly denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. "
 

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on June 03, 2009 (boomark / email).