Plaintiff hired attorney to represent him in a mediation with Morgan Stanley in 2014.  Plaintiff settled on a $ 267K package, and then several years later sued his attorney.  Reches v Sack & Sack, LLP  2018 NY Slip Op 31643(U)  June 28, 2018  Supreme Court, Kings County  Docket Number: 511057/2017  Judge: Dawn M. Jimenez-Salta is the story of how that claim got derailed, and then buried.

“This action originated from Defendant Sack’s representation of PlaintiffReches in an underlying
mediation with Plaintiffs employer, Morgan Stanley (“Morgan Stanley”) on June 18, 2014. Pursuant to that process, Plaintiff accepted a $267,000.00 (Two Hundred Sixty Seven Thousand Dollars) settlement offer in connection with an employment discrimination complaint which he filed against his former employer, Morgan Stanley. Both Plaintiff and a representative from Morgan Stanley executed the Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”) and General Release on June 30, 2014 [Plaintiff 1; Plaintiff 2 Memorandum of Law, Exh. A; Defendant 3,, Exhs A-C; Plaintiff 4, Exhs. A-CJ. ·

Because he was unhappy with the amount of the Settlement which he accepted, Plaintiff filed a
Complaint, dated June 5, 2017 against Defendant Sacks, approximately three years later. Plaintiff alleged eleven (11) causes of action against Defendant Sacks. Ten (10) causes of action were for legal malpractice and one cause of action was for intentional infliction of emotional distress.’ Defendant moved on August 4, 2017 to dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint in its entirety (the “Motion to Dismiss”) pursuant to CPLR 321 l(a)(7) for failure to state a claim as well as pursuant to CPLR 321 l(a)(J)
because the claim was barred by documentary evidence’.”

“When this Court heard oral argument from the parties on the Motion to Dismiss on November 15, 2017, it reserved its decision. In an Order (the “Dismissal Order”), dated February 23, 2018, this Court granted the Motion to Dismiss, having determined that Plaintiffs Complaint “fails to adequately plead specific factual allegations showing that, but for Defendant’s alleged negligence, Plaintiff would have obtained a more favorable outcome … in the mediation.” This Court found that Plaintiffs allegations that he could have obtained a more favorable outcome in the mediation were “conclusory and speculative”. This Court noted that “Piaintiff was not under economic duress,” that the “mediation was voluntary,” and “that he could have stopped at any time.” [Plaintiff l; Plaintiff2 Memorandum of Law, Exh. A; Defendant 3,, Exhs A-C; Plaintiff 4, Exhs. A-C]. ”

“Due to Plaintiffs failure to show that this Court overlooked or misapprehended any matters of fact or law or for some reason mistakenly arrived at its earlier decision, this.Court denies  plaintiff Reches’ motion to reargue Defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a)(7) for failure to state a claim and CPLR 321 J(a)(J) because the claim is barred by documentary evidence. Plaintiffs motion is an attempt to reargue his prior positions which were duly considered and previously rejected by this Court. This Court carefully considered Plaintiffs identical arguments before it issued its comprehensive Dismissal Order. Because it addressed all of Plaintiffs unchanged concerns, Plaintiffs arguments remain unavailing. Therefore, this Court adheres to its original rulings in its Decision/Order, dated February 23, 2018. See Diorio v. City of New York, supra: Ebasco  Construction, Inc., v. AMS Construction Co., Inc., supra; Foley v. Roche, supra: Giovannioel/o
v. Carolina Wholesale Office Mach., Co., supra [Plaintiff I; Plaintiff2 Memorandum of Law, Exh. A;
Defendant 3,, Exhs A-C; Plaintiff 4, Exhs. A-CJ. ”

 

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Andrew Lavoott Bluestone

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened…

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened his private law office and took his first legal malpractice case.

Since 1989, Bluestone has become a leader in the New York Plaintiff’s Legal Malpractice bar, handling a wide array of plaintiff’s legal malpractice cases arising from catastrophic personal injury, contracts, patents, commercial litigation, securities, matrimonial and custody issues, medical malpractice, insurance, product liability, real estate, landlord-tenant, foreclosures and has defended attorneys in a limited number of legal malpractice cases.

Bluestone also took an academic role in field, publishing the New York Attorney Malpractice Report from 2002-2004.  He started the “New York Attorney Malpractice Blog” in 2004, where he has published more than 4500 entries.

Mr. Bluestone has written 38 scholarly peer-reviewed articles concerning legal malpractice, many in the Outside Counsel column of the New York Law Journal. He has appeared as an Expert witness in multiple legal malpractice litigations.

Mr. Bluestone is an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University College of Law, teaching Legal Malpractice.  Mr. Bluestone has argued legal malpractice cases in the Second Circuit, in the New York State Court of Appeals, each of the four New York Appellate Divisions, in all four of  the U.S. District Courts of New York and in Supreme Courts all over the state.  He has also been admitted pro haec vice in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida and was formally admitted to the US District Court of Connecticut and to its Bankruptcy Court all for legal malpractice matters. He has been retained by U.S. Trustees in legal malpractice cases from Bankruptcy Courts, and has represented municipalities, insurance companies, hedge funds, communications companies and international manufacturing firms. Mr. Bluestone regularly lectures in CLEs on legal malpractice.

Based upon his professional experience Bluestone was named a Diplomate and was Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys in 2008 in Legal Malpractice. He remains Board Certified.  He was admitted to The Best Lawyers in America from 2012-2019.  He has been featured in Who’s Who in Law since 1993.

In the last years, Mr. Bluestone has been featured for two particularly noteworthy legal malpractice cases.  The first was a settlement of an $11.9 million dollar default legal malpractice case of Yeo v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman which was reported in the NYLJ on August 15, 2016. Most recently, Mr. Bluestone obtained a rare plaintiff’s verdict in a legal malpractice case on behalf of the City of White Plains v. Joseph Maria, reported in the NYLJ on February 14, 2017. It was the sole legal malpractice jury verdict in the State of New York for 2017.

Bluestone has been at the forefront of the development of legal malpractice principles and has contributed case law decisions, writing and lecturing which have been recognized by his peers.  He is regularly mentioned in academic writing, and his past cases are often cited in current legal malpractice decisions. He is recognized for his ample writings on Judiciary Law § 487, a 850 year old statute deriving from England which relates to attorney deceit.