By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Sep 05, 2023 | 0 Comments
On August 18, 2023, a New York County Supreme Court Justice denied a law firm's motion to dismiss a legal malpractice claim. The plaintiff was the Administrator of his father's Estate and claimed that the legal services provided by the attorney's were careless and untimely causing economic losses...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Aug 21, 2023 | 0 Comments
On August 9, 2023,a New York State appeals court covering lawsuits in Brooklyn described how the statute of limitations (deadline) for filing claims against attorney's for fraud or deceit can be shortened to 3 years. In an action against an attorney for deceitful conduct under Judiciary Law Secti...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Aug 17, 2023 | 0 Comments
According to a report in USA Today on August 10, 2023, a 20 year old first time mother sued a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia and her obstetrician, Dr. Tracey St. Julian for gross negligence and malpractice arising out of a nightmarish delivery in July 2023. A physician allegedly used to much forc...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Aug 15, 2023 | 0 Comments
On June 29, 2023, a not so conservative Westchester County, New York jury awarded $11,036,539 to a 38 year old man who was struck by a falling fence on a construction site undergoing demolition. The owner of the property was found 100% liable on a pre-trial unopposed motion for summary judgment. ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 24, 2023 | 0 Comments
On July 12, 2023, the Appellate Division rendered a decision in what it described as a case of first impression: whether the Arons rule would allow defense counsel to conduct an informal ex parte (private) interview of a physician assistant who treated the plaintiff about the cause of an accident...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 11, 2023 | 0 Comments
On July 5, 2023, an appellate court covering appeals from Queens County, Supreme Court agreed that a surgeon claimed to have caused the death of his patient must present his defenses at a jury trial. The plaintiff's decedent was admitted to the emergency room of the defendant Long Island Jewish M...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 06, 2023 | 0 Comments
On June 28, 2023, the Appellate Division, Second Department joined the First Department in holding that a plaintiff requiring surgery for the injuries suffered in an accident is not required to delay surgery and prolong his/her suffering just so that the defendant who is being sued for those inju...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jul 05, 2023 | 0 Comments
On June 29, 2023, the New York Law Journal reported that an attorney in Georgia had won a $1,500,000 verdict three months ago for his client who was injured in a car accident. That verdict was tossed out based on the defense attorney's post trial motion for a new trial. The trial court found that...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Jun 05, 2023 | 0 Comments
On May 23, 2023 the NY Court of Appeals addressed two cases involving the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and negligence claims are discussed. In both cases, tenants were attacked by intruders who entered their buildings through exterior doors that were assumed to have non-functioning loc...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 19, 2023 | 0 Comments
On May 17, 2023, an appellate court covering appeals from Queens County Supreme Court reversed a trial judge who refused to declare a mistrial during opening statements. The plaintiff claimed that while riding his motorcycle on a road in Queens when a truck driving in the opposite direction hit t...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 17, 2023 | 0 Comments
On May 11, 2023, a NYS appeals court dismissed a legal malpractice claim arguing that plaintiff (client) unnecessarily spent tens of thousands of dollars on attorney fees to litigate and thereafter, arbitrate a real estate partnership dispute "because of the attorney's bad advice to advance certa...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 12, 2023 | 0 Comments
On May 3, 2023, the Appellate Division, Second Department overruled a Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice who denied a severely injured plumber's motion for summary judgment on liability against the owner of a building and the general contractor for an unsafe construction site. The plumbers empl...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 10, 2023 | 0 Comments
On January 23, 2023 a Bronx jury agreed that Western Beef Supermarket failed to promptly clean up a clear liquid that was spilled in an aisle causing a 45 year old female shopper to fall onto her back. The supermarket argued that their employees routinely inspect for and promptly clean up any spi...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 08, 2023 | 0 Comments
The United States District Court in the Southern District of New York has granted the government's motion for summary judgment in a medical malpractice case brought by a mother and her child against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The case involved a permanent brachial plexus...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 05, 2023 | 0 Comments
On April 26, 2023, a New York appellate court covering Suffolk County upheld the pre-answer dismissal of a legal malpractice suit. A disgruntled client in a commercial mortgage foreclosure action had his legal malpractice claim dismissed at the outset of litigation because his claim was wrong on ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on May 02, 2023 | 0 Comments
On April 27, 2023, the New York Court of Appeals retained a form of the primary assumption of risk doctrine despite the enactment of the comparative fault regime of CPLR Article 14 in 1975. The doctrine applies only in a narrow set of circumstances, such as in athletic and recreational activities...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 27, 2023 | 0 Comments
The Appellate Division, Second Department on April 19, 2023 ruled upon an interesting question of law regarding the statute of limitations in legal malpractice actions. Here are the basic facts. Client sued attorney for legal malpractice alleging that her personal injury actions were dismissed be...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 24, 2023 | 0 Comments
On February 22, 2023, a Nassau County, New York jury awarded $4,000,000 to a woman for the failure of a radiologist to properly interpret a mammogram and ultrasound resulting in a one year delay in diagnosing breast cancer. The plaintiff developed Stage 3 breast cancer with metastases to her lymp...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 18, 2023 | 0 Comments
On April 4, 2023 an appellate court overruled a Judge and Manhattan jury finding that a radiologist's alleged misdiagnosis was not "a substantial factor in causing the delay that led plaintiff's appendix to burst resulting in the loss of a pregnancy. The plaintiff was in the early stages of pregn...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 17, 2023 | 0 Comments
On April 4, 2023, an appeals court affirmed New York County Supreme Court Justice Jaffe who dismissed a legal malpractice claim, disguised as a "simple negligence" claim, finding that a disgruntled prospective beneficiary of an Estate cannot sue the attorney who planned the Estate or drafted the ...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Apr 13, 2023 | 0 Comments
On March 28, 2023, the Boston Globe reported on a jury verdict awarding $20M to a 43 year old man who was repeatedly misdiagnosed as having sciatica pain in his leg, rather than a blood clot. The delay in diagnosis of the blood clot led to an avoidable amputation. Mr. Luppold first presented to t...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 30, 2023 | 0 Comments
On March 22, 2023, an appellate court covering Queens County appeals rejected a hospital's claim that a jury verdict of $1,300,000 was excessive to compensate the Estate of a man who endured pain and suffering for his final 18 days after the malpractice occurred. The Court held that there was a r...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 27, 2023 | 0 Comments
On November 7, 2022, following an 8 day trial, a Brooklyn jury found that the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) was negligent for allowing a dangerous snow and ice condition to exist for approximately two days on an exterior staircase to an elevated subway track in the Bronx. The jury award...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 24, 2023 | 0 Comments
On December 28, 2022, a Nassau County jury feeling the holiday spirit found in favor of a podiatrist who was injured during a lumbar laminectomy procedure performed by orthopedist Fernando Checo, M.D. It was later determined that the plaintiff-podiatrist suffered a dural tear of the spinal cord w...
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By Ronald C. Burke, Esq on Mar 22, 2023 | 0 Comments
On December 20, 2022, a Court Officer employed in Nassau County with the title of Sergeant was awarded $20,156,772, including $15M for pain and suffering. He was seriously and permanently injured when a courthouse door slammed closed on him and knocked him down due to a defective door arm mechani...
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