Cause of Action for Legal Malpractice Accrues When Malpractice Is Committed, Not When Client Learns of It

A cause of action for legal malpractice accrues when the malpractice is committed, not when the client learns of it.  In this case the alleged malpractice was advice that selling property would not have adverse tax consequences.  The IRS disagreed and the client and his attorney fought the determination. After the unsuccessful fight, the client sued the attorney for malpractice. The action was deemed time-barred (the continuous representation doctrine did not apply):

“A legal malpractice claim accrues when all the facts necessary to the cause of action have occurred and an injured party can obtain relief in court’” … . Here, the defendants met their prima facie burden by establishing that the cause of action alleging legal malpractice accrued on March 5, 2003, the date they allegedly issued the opinion letter advising the plaintiff that the proposed sale would not result in the loss of his tax deferment status … . Although the plaintiff did not discover that his attorneys’ alleged advice was incorrect until years later, “ [w]hat is important is when the malpractice was committed, not when the client discovered it’” … . Therefore, since the defendants demonstrated that the plaintiff did not commence this action until December 29, 2011, more than three years after his claim for legal malpractice accrued, the defendants established, prima facie, that the claim was time-barred.  Landow v Snow Becker Krauss PC, 2013 NY Slip Op 07710, 2nd Dept 11-20-13