Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc. v. Morrison & Foerster LLP

• Decision Date: 09 January 2018
• Docket Number: 5165,Index 650988/15
• Citation: 68 N.Y.S.3d 458,157 A.D.3d 456
• Parties: MACQUARIE CAPITAL (USA) INC., Plaintiff–Appellant, v. MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP, Defendant–Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

157 A.D.3d 456

68 N.Y.S.3d 458

MACQUARIE CAPITAL (USA) INC., Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP, Defendant–Respondent.

5165

Index 650988/15

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

ENTERED: JANUARY 9, 2018

Marino, Tortorella & Boyle, P.C., New York (Kevin H. Marino of counsel), for appellant.

Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, D.C. (Kannon K. Shanmugam of the bar of the District of Columbia and the State of Kansas, admitted pro hac vice, of counsel), for respondent.

Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Mazzarelli, Kapnick, Webber, JJ.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Saliann Scarpulla, J.), entered on or about July 21, 2016, which granted defendant law firm's CPLR 3211 motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, with costs, and the motion denied.

Accepting plaintiff client's allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in its favor (see Leon v. Martinez, 84 N.Y.2d 83, 87–88, 614 N.Y.S.2d 972, 638 N.E.2d 511 [1994] ), a legal malpractice claim was sufficiently alleged (see Fielding v. Kupferman, 65 A.D.3d 437, 439, 885 N.Y.S.2d 24 [1st Dept. 2009] ). Plaintiff, a lead underwriter on a public offering of a Chinese corporation, claimed that defendant law firm was negligent in failing to uncover material misrepresentations made by the corporation in connection with the offering. Plaintiff sufficiently asserted that but for defendant's negligence, plaintiff would have ceased its involvement in the public offering and avoided the fees, expenses and other damages it incurred in defending against, as well as settling claims against it (see id. ).

Defendant's argument that an investigative report gave plaintiff prior constructive notice of the material misrepresentations is unavailing (cf. Ableco Fin. LLC v. Hilson, 109 A.D.3d 438, 970 N.Y.S.2d 775 [1st Dept. 2013], lv denied 22 N.Y.3d 864, 2014 WL 1281733 [2014] ). In Ableco, this Court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, dismissing the plaintiff's legal malpractice claim "on the basis of information plaintiff indisputably possessed" prior to the closing of the transaction at issue ( id. at 439, 970 N.Y.S.2d 775 ). Specifically, the plaintiff, the maker of commercial loans, received a press release that explicitly excluded certain property from the available inventory of a bankruptcy estate, and thus, the evidence refuted the plaintiff's claim that it was unaware that it would not be getting a first priority lien on the entire inventory ( id. at 438, 439, 970 N.Y.S.2d 775 ). Moreover, this Court's determination was founded not only upon the plaintiff's possession of the press release, but also on the clear and explicit presentation of the information such that counsel's legal interpretation was not required ( id. at 439...