Pursuant to Part 130 , attorneys are obligated to undertake an investigation of a case.  But is an attorney responsible for ignorance of facts which the client neglected to disclose?  “No,” says the Commercial Division.

In a recent decision by Justice Andrew Borrok, the Commercial Division discussed this very issue. In Morgan and Mendel

Winning at the blame game is difficult to do.  This holds especially true where the “blame game” is actually a claim for legal malpractice.

In a recent decision, the First Department affirmed Justice Sherwood’s Orders, which granted defendants’ motions to dismiss the complaint against them.  In Binn v. Muchnick, Golieb & Golieb, P.C.,

In a legal malpractice claim brought by Plaintiff, an Australian investment bank against Morrison & Foester, claiming that the law firm did not conduct due diligence in uncovering material misrepresentations pertaining to Plaintiff’s underwriting of a public stock offering of Puda Coal, Inc., Justice Scarpulla, in the New York County Supreme Court (Index No.: 650988/15)

CPLR 3211(a)(1) provides for the dismissal of a claim so long as the defense is based upon “documentary evidence”.  We’ve seen this used successfully in mortgage note cases, (e.g., Bronxville Knolls, Inc. v. Webster Town Center Partnership, [1st Dep’t 1995]), as well as lease litigation (e.g., 150 Broadway N.Y. Assocs., L.P. v. Bodner