Ofman v. Katz
| Decision Date | 15 November 2011 |
| Parties | Mendel E. OFMAN, appellant, v. Stephen A. KATZ, respondent. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 08335
89 A.D.3d 909
933 N.Y.S.2d 101
Mendel E. OFMAN, appellant,
v.
Stephen A. KATZ, respondent.
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.
Nov. 15, 2011.
[933 N.Y.S.2d 102]
Andrew Lavoott Bluestone, New York, N.Y., for appellant.
Furman Kornfeld & Brennan, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Bain R. Loucks and A. Michael Furman of counsel), for respondent.
WILLIAM F. MASTRO, J.P., RANDALL T. ENG, ARIEL E. BELEN, and L. PRISCILLA HALL, JJ.[89 A.D.3d 909] In an action to recover damages for legal malpractice and breach of contract, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Bunyan, J.), entered August 31, 2009, which granted the defendant's motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) and (7) to dismiss the complaint.
ORDERED that the order is modified, on the law, by deleting the provision thereof granting that branch of the defendant's motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) and (7) to dismiss the cause of action sounding in legal malpractice and substituting therefor a provision denying that branch of the motion; as so modified, the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
In a legal malpractice action, a plaintiff must show that the defendant attorney “failed to exercise the ordinary reasonable [89 A.D.3d 910] skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession” and that “the attorney's breach of this professional duty caused the plaintiff's actual damages” ( McCoy v. Feinman, 99 N.Y.2d 295, 301–302, 755 N.Y.S.2d 693, 785 N.E.2d 714 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Rudolf v. Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 N.Y.3d 438, 442, 835 N.Y.S.2d 534, 867 N.E.2d 385; Guayara v. Harry I. Katz, P.C., 83 A.D.3d 661, 662, 920 N.Y.S.2d 401; Alizio v. Feldman, 82 A.D.3d 804, 804, 918 N.Y.S.2d 218). When determining a motion to dismiss a complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) for failure to state a cause of action, “the court must accept the facts alleged in the pleading as true, accord the plaintiff the benefit of every possible inference, and determine only whether the facts as alleged fit within any cognizable legal theory” ( Thompsen v. Baier, 84 A.D.3d 1062, 1063, 923 N.Y.S.2d 607; see Goshen v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of N.Y., 98 N.Y.2d 314, 326, 746 N.Y.S.2d 858, 774 N.E.2d 1190; Leon v. Martinez, 84 N.Y.2d 83, 87, 614 N.Y.S.2d 972, 638 N.E.2d 511; Guayara v. Harry I. Katz, P.C., 83 A.D.3d at 662, 920 N.Y.S.2d 401; Kuzmin v. Nevsky, 74 A.D.3d 896, 897, 903...
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