Rossi v. Boehner
| Decision Date | 21 January 1986 |
| Parties | William ROSSI, et al., Appellants, v. Donald H. BOEHNER, Respondent. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Walle & Donner, Great Neck (Andrew F. Walle, Jr., of counsel), for appellants. Jacobowitz & Lysaght, New York City (Michael S. Lesman, of counsel), for respondent.
In an action to recover damages for legal malpractice, plaintiffs appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Aronin, J.), dated January 31, 1985, which, inter alia, granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. Order affirmed, with costs. We agree with Special Term that the circumstances herein do not constitute a basis for departing from the general rule that "absent privity of contract, the simple omission by an attorney to prepare a new will or codicil naming a new beneficiary of some part of the decedent's estate does not, by itself, render the attorney liable to the alleged beneficiary" (Victor v. Goldman, 74 Misc.2d 685, 686, 344 N.Y.S.2d 672, affd. 43 A.D.2d 1021, 351 N.Y.S.2d 956). As we recently noted, "privity remains a viable factor in legal malpractice cases in this State" (Calamari v. Grace, 98 A.D.2d 74, 79, 469 N.Y.S.2d 942).
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... ... Weksel, 124 A.D.2d 144 [511 N.Y.S.2d 626], lv. denied 70 N.Y.2d 604 [519 N.Y.S.2d 1027, 513 N.E.2d 1307]; Rossi v. Boehner, 116 A.D.2d 636 [498 N.Y.S.2d 318], cf., Credit Alliance Corp. v. Andersen & Co., 65 N.Y.2d 536 [493 N.Y.S.2d 435, 483 N.E.2d 110], mot ... ...
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