FKB’s Aaron M. Barham and Rahni Stewart obtained a CPLR 3211(a)(7) dismissal of a legal malpractice claim on behalf of a prominent appellate attorney before Justice Francois Rivera in Kings County Supreme Court. The plaintiff alleged that FKB’s client – whose engagement was expressly limited to preparing the appellate brief – failed to timely file a Notice of Appeal in the trial court, purportedly depriving plaintiff of the opportunity to challenge an adverse ruling in an underlying matrimonial dispute.

In their successful motion to dismiss, FKB argued that the plaintiff failed to identify a single reversible trial court error or explain how an appeal would have changed the outcome.  The Court agreed and held the plaintiff failed to sufficiently plead proximate causation—i.e., that but for the alleged negligence, the plaintiff would have prevailed on appeal or obtained a better result.

If you have any questions about this decision or the defense of attorneys and other professionals, please contact Aaron M. Barham or Rahni Stewart.