PLAINTIFF COULD NOT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNDERLYING SLIP AND FALL CASE BECAUSE OF THE STORM IN PROGRESS RULE, LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION BASED UPON A FAILURE TO SERVE THE CORRECT PARTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that the legal malpractice action should have been dismissed because plaintiff could not have prevailed in the underlying slip and fall case. The slip and fall case was dismissed because the proper party was not served. The Second Department held that the plaintiff could not have proved liability for the slip and fall case because of the storm in progress rule:
[The] submissions demonstrated that a storm was in progress at the time of the accident, that there was no preexisting ice on the ground when the storm commenced, and that the property owner did not create or exacerbate the allegedly dangerous condition created by the storm in progress… . Since the defendants made a prima facie showing that the storm in progress rule applied to the underlying action, the burden shifted to the plaintiff to show that something other than the precipitation from the storm in progress caused the accident … . The plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court should have granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint because the plaintiff could not have prevailed in the underlying action against the property owner … . Blair v Loduca, 2018 NY Slip Op 05744, Second Dept 6-15-18
ATTORNEYS (MALPRACTICE, PLAINTIFF COULD NOT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNDERLYING SLIP AND FALL CASE BECAUSE OF THE STORM IN PROGRESS RULE, LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION BASED UPON A FAILURE TO SERVE THE CORRECT PARTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT))/LEGAL MALPRACTICE (PLAINTIFF COULD NOT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNDERLYING SLIP AND FALL CASE BECAUSE OF THE STORM IN PROGRESS RULE, LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION BASED UPON A FAILURE TO SERVE THE CORRECT PARTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT))/NEGLIGENCE (PLAINTIFF COULD NOT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNDERLYING SLIP AND FALL CASE BECAUSE OF THE STORM IN PROGRESS RULE, LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION BASED UPON A FAILURE TO SERVE THE CORRECT PARTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT))/SLIP AND FALL (PLAINTIFF COULD NOT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNDERLYING SLIP AND FALL CASE BECAUSE OF THE STORM IN PROGRESS RULE, LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION BASED UPON A FAILURE TO SERVE THE CORRECT PARTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT))/STORM IN PROGRESS (PLAINTIFF COULD NOT HAVE PREVAILED IN THE UNDERLYING SLIP AND FALL CASE BECAUSE OF THE STORM IN PROGRESS RULE, LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION BASED UPON A FAILURE TO SERVE THE CORRECT PARTY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT))