Legal Malpractice

Starting Point of the Statute of Limitations Can Be Confusing

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

When does the statute of limitations start to run in legal malpractice?  Is it on the day that former attorneys are "substituted out" or perhaps on the day that successor counsel sign a retainer agreement?  One answer is found in Fur Online v. Rivkin Radler, LLP, Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 113292/08. 

There, Justice Friedman determines that CPLR 214(6) applies, and that the rule in Matter of Kliment, 3 NY3d 535 (2004) is illustrative.  Where the "underlying complaint is one which essentially claims that there was a failure to utilize reasonable care or where acts of omission or negligence are alleged or claimed, the statute of limitations shall be three years if the case comes within the purview of CPLR Section 214(6) regardless of whether the theory is based in tort or in breach of contract."

Here, the decision illustrates the problems inherent.  In a US District Court case, Judge John G. Koeltl so ordered a letter application to be relieved as counsel on September 14, 2005.  The attorney-client relationship ended on that day.  Another attorney purportedly took over the case on October 14, 2005, but this "does not show that plaintiff was continuously represented by defendant up until that date."

Result?  Case dismissed.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on July 26, 2010 (boomark / email).