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PLAINTIFF DID NOT HAVE TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF A RETAINER AGREEMENT TO DEMONSTRATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP WITH DEFENDANTS IN THIS LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the legal malpractice action should not have been dismissed on the ground plaintiff did not demonstrate the existence of an attorney-client relationship. Plaintiff did not have to produce a retainer agreement:

… [T]he Supreme Court erred in granting dismissal of the legal malpractice cause of action based upon the plaintiff’s failure to produce evidence of an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship does not depend on the existence of a formal retainer agreement … , and the plaintiff had no obligation to demonstrate evidentiary facts to support the allegations contained in the complaint … . Furthermore, the complaint sufficiently alleges the existence of an attorney-client relationship between the plaintiff and the … defendants … , as well as the other elements of legal malpractice, including damages, to support a legal malpractice cause of action … . Ripa v Petrosyants, 2022 NY Slip Op 01336, Second Dept 3-2-22

 

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