We are pleased to announce that Richard Klass has been selected to the 2024 New York Metro Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit SuperLawyers.com.
Richard A. Klass, Esq., maintains a law firm engaged in civil litigation at 16 Court Street, 28th Floor, Brooklyn, New York. He may be reached at (718) COURT●ST or with any questions.
In Urias v Daniel P. Buttafuoco & Assoc., PLLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 01497 [Ct App Mar. 19, 2024], the NYS Court of Appeals dealt with Judiciary Law Section 487, holding that:
[Defendant/Attorney] contends that “[Plaintiff/Client] was relegated to bringing a motion to vacate under CPLR 5015. That path may well be available as a general matter,4 but section 487 cannot be read to make CPLR 5015 the exclusive avenue here. Not only does the text of the provision suggest that a plenary action is available in all instances of attorney deceit, but section 487’s long lineage also confirms that conclusion. The cause of action was descended from the first Statute of Westminster adopted in England in 1275, incorporated in New York’s earliest common law, and first codified in this State in a 1787 statute that closely tracks the current provision (seeMelcher v. Greenberg Traurig, LLP, 23 N.Y.3d 10, 14–15, 988 N.Y.S.2d 101, 11 N.E.3d 174 [2014]; Amalfitano, 12 N.Y.3d at 12, 874 N.Y.S.2d 868, 903 N.E.2d 265). Its legislative history reflects a consistent view, taken over centuries, that attorney deceit in the course of litigation warrants substantial penalties—both criminal liability and treble damages. By comparison, CPLR 5015 offers a discretionary remedy that includes “restitution in like manner and subject to the same conditions as where a judgment is reversed or modified on appeal” (CPLR 5015[d]). Such relief is markedly different from that authorized by section 487, and we decline to confine a plaintiff alleging attorney deceit to the sole option of proceeding under CPLR 5015.
We appreciate that it might be more efficient to require a plaintiff who either directly or effectively challenges a judgment to return to the court that issued it and seek vacatur under CPLR 5015, and we note that transfer of a plenary action to the court that handled the underlying proceedings may be desirable where consistent with the CPLR’s venue provisions. Nor do we take lightly the interest in preserving the finality of judgments. But the legislature has singled out the specific type of claim here—an allegation of attorney deceit on the court or a party—and determined that recovery of treble damages should be available in a civil action. We conclude that section 487 must be read to allow a plenary action for deceit, even where success on that claim might undermine a separate final judgment.
Richard A. Klass, Esq., maintains a law firm engaged in civil litigation at 16 Court Street, 28th Floor, Brooklyn, New York. He may be reached at (718) COURT●ST or with any questions.
In Sebco Dev., Inc.; 178TH STREET HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND COMPANY, INC.; 479 COURTLANDT AVENUE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION; CROTONA PARTNERS L.P.; ERMA CAVA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND COMPANY, INC.; E.C. HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND COMPANY, INC.; FILOMENA GARDENS HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND COMPANY, INC.; FOX STREET HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION; HUNTS POINT HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION; PIO/VIP L.P.; ROSINA ASSOCIATES L.P.; SEBCO HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND COMPANY, INC.; TIFFANY GARDENS, L.P.; TIMPSON HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION; WILLIS AVENUE ASSOCIATES, L.P., Plaintiff(s), v Siegel & Reiner, LLP AND IRWIN SIEGEL, ESQ., Defendant(s)., 2024 NY Slip Op 50292(U), 10 [Sup Ct Mar. 20, 2024], the court granted the motion to dismiss the legal malpractice cause action, holding:
It is well settled that in New York, violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct, do not, absent more, provide a basis for a legal malpractice claim against an attorney or firm (Doscher v Meyer, 177 AD3d 697, 699 [2d Dept 2019] [”In addition, a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, in itself, does not give rise to a private cause of action against an attorney or law firm.“]; Cohen v Kachroo, 115 AD3d 512, 513 [1st Dept 2014] [”To the extent that plaintiff seeks to allege malpractice based on a violation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, such an alleged violation does not, without more, support a malpractice claim.“]; Kallman v Krupnick, 67 AD3d 1093, 1096 [3d Dept 2009]; Arkin Kaplan LLP v Jones, 42 AD3d 362, 366 [1st Dept 2007]; Weintraub v Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim, & Ballon, 172 AD2d 254, 254 [1st Dept 1991]). Accordingly, a conflict of interest, even if it amounts to a violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility, without more, will not give rise to claim of legal malpractice (Sumo Container Sta., Inc. v Evans, Orr, Pacelli, Norton & Laffan, P.C., 278 AD2d 169, 170 [1st Dept 2000]; Lavanant v Gen. Acc. Ins. Co. of Am., 212 AD2d 450, 451 [1st Dept 1995]). However, if the conflict of interest amounts to a breach of the duty of care and it is alleged or proven that damages were proximately caused by the breach, then such conflict is tantamount to legal malpractice (Esposito v Noto, 132 AD3d 944, 945 [2d Dept 2015] [”While a conflict of interest amounting to a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct does not, in and of itself, amount to malpractice, liability can follow where the client can show that he or she suffered actual damage as a result of the conflict“ (internal quotation marks omitted).]; Tabner v Drake, 9 AD3d 606, 610 [3d Dept 2004]).
Richard A. Klass, Esq., maintains a law firm engaged in civil litigation at 16 Court Street, 28th Floor, Brooklyn, New York. He may be reached at (718) COURT●ST or with any questions.
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