Legal Malpractice

Cleaning House in a Divorce Legal Malpractice Case

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

The decision in Scartozzi v Potruch   10 NY Slip Op 03102 ; decided on April 13, 2010 ; Appellate Division, Second Department is long on discussion of summary judgment standards and a little short on background, but it appears that defendants gave advice to plaintiff in her divorce proceeding to forego trying to avoid payments to the prior attorney, and failed to advice her that she could instead collect her own attorney fees.
 

At the end of the day, plaintiff has two causes of action for legal malpractice left, with the balance of the claims weeded out.

"The Supreme Court properly granted those branches of the defendants' motion which were for summary judgment dismissing the fourth cause of action, as well as the fifth cause of action alleging that the defendants improperly entered into a stipulation with prior counsel on the plaintiff's behalf. In opposition to the defendants' prima facie showing with respect to those causes of action, the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact.

Furthermore, as the defendants correctly argue, so much of the first cause of action as alleged, and the second cause of action alleging, breach of contract were duplicative of the cause of action alleging legal malpractice, as there was no evidence that the defendants promised to obtain a particular result (see Magnacoustics, Inc. v Ostrolenk, Faber, Gerb & Soffen, 303 AD2d 561, 562). Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly dismissed the second cause of action, and the first cause of action insofar as it alleged breach of contract.

However, the Supreme Court erred in granting that branch of the defendants' motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the first cause of action insofar as it alleged legal malpractice. Contrary to the defendants' contention, the Supreme Court erred in determining that collateral estoppel barred the plaintiff from challenging as legal malpractice the defendant's advice that she waive her right to seek prior counsel fees in the matrimonial action because she sought, unsuccessfully, to set aside the stipulation waiving the fees. In order to invoke the doctrine of collateral estoppel, (1) the identical issue must have necessarily been decided in the prior action and be decisive of the present action, and (2) the party to be precluded from relitigating the issue must have had a full and fair opportunity to contest the prior determination (see D'Arata v New York Cent. Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 76 NY2d 659, 664; Franklin Dev. Co., Inc. v Atlantic Mut. Ins. Co., 60 AD3d 897, 899). Here, the issue of whether the stipulation could be set aside was not identical to the issue of whether the defendants were negligent in advising the plaintiff to waive the fees. Thus, the plaintiff is not precluded from asserting a cause of action alleging legal malpractice based on the defendants' allegedly negligent advice (see Bishop v Maurer, 9 NY3d 910, 911).

To succeed on a motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint in a legal malpractice action, the defendant must present evidence in admissible form establishing that the plaintiff is unable to prove at least one essential element of his or her cause of action alleging legal malpractice (see Boglia v Greenberg, 63 AD3d 973, 974; Fasanella v Levy, 27 AD3d 616; Suydam v O'Neill, 276 AD2d 549, 550). Here, the defendants failed to demonstrate their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by presenting admissible evidence establishing that the plaintiff could not prove that, in advising her to waive her right to request an award of her prior counsels' fees, they "failed to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession" (McCoy v Feinman, 99 NY2d 295, 301).

The defendants demonstrated their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the third cause of action insofar as it alleged that they were negligent in giving incorrect information to successor counsel concerning the date by which the plaintiff's motion pursuant to CPLR 4404 had to be filed. In opposition, the plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact. However, the defendants failed to demonstrate their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the third cause of action insofar as it alleged that the defendants failed to present certain evidence at trial. "

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on April 21, 2010 (boomark / email).