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ALTHOUGH THE ATTORNEYS IN THIS LEGAL MALPRACTICE ACTION MISSED THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS, THE COMPLAINT DID NOT ALLEGE SUFFICIENT FACTS TO DEMONSTRATE THE UNDERLYING LAWSUITS WOULD HAVE SUCCEEDED HAD THEY BEEN TIMELY BROUGHT (SECOND DEPT).

​The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the legal malpractice action should have been dismissed because the complaint did not contain the “but for” allegations. It is not enough to allege defendants missed the statute of limitations, the complaint must also allege facts demonstrating the underlying lawsuits would have succeeded had they been timely brought:

… [T]he plaintiffs alleged that the decedent died after a brief admission to a drug and behavioral treatment facility, that the defendants agreed to represent the plaintiffs in an underlying action against the treatment facility and the medical providers who treated the decedent, that the defendants committed legal malpractice by failing to timely complete service of process in an action commenced in state court and by failing to commence a wrongful death cause of action in federal court before the applicable statute of limitations expired, and that the defendants’ failures resulted in the plaintiffs being unable to recover on their wrongful death causes of action. Absent from the complaint are any factual allegations relating to the basis for the plaintiffs’ purported wrongful death causes of action against the treatment facility or medical providers.

Accepting the facts alleged in the complaint as true, and according the plaintiffs the benefit of every possible favorable inference, the complaint failed to set forth facts sufficient to allege that [defendants’] purported negligence proximately caused the plaintiffs to sustain actual and ascertainable damages … . Even when considered with the documents submitted by the plaintiffs in opposition to the motion, the complaint failed to allege any facts tending to show that, but for [defendants’] alleged negligence in failing to timely serve process in the state court action and in failing to timely commence an action in federal court, the plaintiffs would have achieved a more favorable outcome on their wrongful death causes of action … . Buchanan v Law Offs. of Sheldon E. Green, P.C., 2023 NY Slip Op 01979, Second Dept 4-19-23

Practice Point: To sufficiently allege legal malpractice, the complaint must not only allege the attorneys’ negligence, here missing the statute of limitations, but sufficient facts must be alleged to demonstrate the lawsuit would have succeeded had it been timely brought.

See the companion decision: Buchanan v Law Offs. of Sheldon E. Green, P.C., 2023 NY Slip Op 01980, Second Dept 4-19-23

 

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