Lauder v. Goldhamer

• Decision Date: 26 November 2014
• Docket Number: 2013-09855
• Citation: 122 A.D.3d 908,998 N.Y.S.2d 79,2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 08321
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: Cindy Ann LAUDER, respondent, v. Paul B. GOLDHAMER, etc., et al., appellants.

122 A.D.3d 908

998 N.Y.S.2d 79

2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 08321

Cindy Ann LAUDER, respondent

v.Paul B. GOLDHAMER, etc., et al., appellants.

2013-09855

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Nov. 26, 2014.

Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman, P.C., Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. (Barry S. Kantrowitz and Reginald H. Rutishauser of counsel), appellant pro se and for appellants Paul B. Goldhamer, Randy Perlmutter, and Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman, LLP.

Karen Winner, New York, N.Y., for respondent.

PETER B. SKELOS, J.P., THOMAS A. DICKERSON, CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, and SANDRA L. SGROI, JJ.

Opinion

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for legal malpractice, the defendants appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Rockland County (Walsh II, J.), dated September 24, 2013, as denied those branches of their motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) which were to dismiss the amended complaint insofar as asserted against the defendant Paul B. Goldhamer individually, and to dismiss the second, sixth, and seventh causes of action, and granted the plaintiff's cross motion to disqualify attorney Barry Kantrowitz from representing the defendants and for leave to serve a second amended complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

The plaintiff was a former matrimonial client of the defendant Kantrowitz Goldhamer & Graifman, P.C. (hereinafter the firm), of which the defendant Paul B. Goldhamer is a partner. The plaintiff commenced this action against the defendants to recover damages, inter alia, for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of Judiciary Law § 487, and to set aside a retainer agreement. The defendants moved pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) to dismiss the amended complaint insofar as asserted against Goldhamer individually, and to dismiss the second through seventh causes of action. The plaintiff thereafter voluntarily withdrew the third, fourth, and fifth causes of action asserted in the amended complaint, and cross-moved to disqualify attorney Barry Kantrowitz, a partner of the firm, from representing the defendants, and for leave to serve a second amended complaint. The Supreme Court denied those branches of the defendants' motion which were to dismiss the amended complaint insofar as asserted against Goldhamer individually, and to dismiss the second, sixth, and seventh causes of action, and granted the plaintiff's cross motion.

The Supreme Court properly denied that branch of the defendants' motion which was to dismiss the amended complaint insofar as asserted against Goldhamer individually. In determining a motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) to dismiss a complaint, the facts alleged in the complaint must be deemed to be true, and the plaintiff must be accorded the benefit of every favorable inference (see Leon v. Martinez, 84 N.Y.2d 83, 87–88, 614 N.Y.S.2d 972, 638 N.E.2d 511 ). Further, a court may consider affidavits submitted by the plaintiff to remedy any defects in the complaint (see Freeman v. City of New York, 111 A.D.3d 780, 781, 975 N.Y.S.2d 141 ; Pasquaretto v. Long Is. Univ., 106 A.D.3d 794, 795, 964 N.Y.S.2d 599 ).

Here, considering the amended complaint and the plaintiff's affidavit, the plaintiff alleged that negligent acts were committed personally by Goldhamer. The plaintiff also alleged that negligent acts were committed by the defendant Randy Perlmutter under Goldhamer's direct supervision and control. Goldhamer would be personally liable for any such negligence (see Business Corporation Law § 1505[a] ; Beltrone v. General Schuyler & Co., 223 A.D.2d 938, 636 N.Y.S.2d 917 ). Thus, the amended complaint stated causes of action against Goldhamer individually.

Contrary to the defendants' contention, the second cause of action, which was to recover damages for breach of fiduciary duty, and was based upon the defendants' alleged conduct of charging her unnecessary and excessive fees, and the sixth and seventh causes of action, which were to set aside the retainer agreement and to recover damages for violation of Judiciary Law § 487, respectively, were not duplicative of the cause of action to recover damages for legal malpractice (see Tanenbaum v. Molinoff, 118 A.D.3d 774, 987 N.Y.S.2d 214 ; Postiglione v. Castro, 119 A.D.3d 920, 922, 990 N.Y.S.2d 257 ; Loria v. Cerniglia, 69 A.D.3d 583, 891 N.Y.S.2d 286 ; Moormann v. Perini & Hoerger, 65 A.D.3d 1106, 1108, 886 N.Y.S.2d 49 ). Therefore, dismissal of those causes of action was not warranted on that ground.

The defendants' arguments concerning the eighth cause of action alleged in the amended complaint are not...