Ben-Zvi v. Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman LLP

• Decision Date: 28 December 2000
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: ROZ BEN-ZVI, Appellant,<BR>v.<BR>KRONISH LIEB WEINER & HELLMAN L. L. P. et al., Respondents.

278 A.D.2d 167

718 N.Y.S.2d 328

ROZ BEN-ZVI, Appellant,

v.KRONISH LIEB WEINER & HELLMAN L. L. P. et al., Respondents.

Decided December 28, 2000.

Concur — Rosenberger, J.P., Nardelli, Williams, Mazzarelli and Friedman, JJ.

Plaintiff's cause of action for legal malpractice based on defendants' representation of him in a Federal criminal proceeding is precluded by plaintiff's undisturbed conviction on some of the charges in that proceeding, an obstacle that plaintiff cannot avoid by pleading a purported cause of action for breach of contract alleging that defendants failed to perform their contract to represent him with due care (see, Kaplan v Sachs, 224 AD2d 666, lv dismissed and denied 88 NY2d 952). Plaintiff's cause of action for fraud, based on allegations that defendants billed him for services that either were not performed or were overstated, was properly dismissed for failure to satisfy the specificity requirement of CPLR 3016 (b) (see, Callas v Eisenberg, 192 AD2d 349). Plaintiff's cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress was properly dismissed for lack of an allegation that defendants' conduct unreasonably and directly endangered his physical safety (see, Wolkstein v Morgenstern, 275 AD2d 635, 637).