GABRIEL D’JAMOOS, , v. MICHAEL GRIFFITH, No. 08-3668-cvUNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT;2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 17868;August 12, 2009, discusses termination for cause and the proofs needed:
"Under New York law, an attorney may be dismissed by a client at any time with or without cause." Garcia v. Teitler, 443 F.3d 202, 211 (2d Cir. 2006). "If the discharge is for cause, [*7] the attorney is not entitled to fees." Id. "If, however, the discharge is without cause, the attorney may recover the value of services rendered in quantum meruit," id. at 211-12, "even where the attorney discharged without fault was employed under a contingent fee contract," Universal Acupuncture Pain Servs., P.C. v. Quadrino & Schwartz, P.C., 370 F.3d 259, 263 (2d Cir. 2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). "Poor client relations, differences of opinion, or personality conflicts do not amount to cause, which is shown by impropriety or misconduct on the part of the attorney." Garcia v. Teitler, 443 F.3d at 212.
We identify no error in the district court’s conclusion that Griffith was not terminated as a result of such "impropriety or misconduct." Id. D’Jamoos’s December 1, 1999 letter releasing Griffith notes plaintiff’s "profound dissatisfaction with the [1998 settlement] and the quality of the representation that [he] received." At his deposition, D’Jamoos noted as causes for the termination, inter alia, Griffith’s failure to enforce the 1997 settlement, his dissatisfaction with the 1998 settlement, and various trial-related omissions. To the extent these complaints "consist solely [*8] of dissatisfaction with reasonable strategic choices regarding litigation," under New York law, "[s]uch choices do not, as a matter of law, constitute cause for the discharge of an attorney." Callaghan v. Callaghan, 48 A.D.3d 500, 501, 852 N.Y.S.2d 273 (2d Dep’t. 2008). Moreover, as the district court rightly emphasized, on March 27, 1998, D’Jamoos expressed, under oath, his agreement with the 1998 settlement. That he subsequently became dissatisfied with that settlement does not constitute "cause" for Griffith’s termination warranting D’Jamoos’s withholding compensation for counsel’s services. To the extent plaintiff also cites certain litigation and enforcement delays that might support termination for cause, plaintiff has failed to offer evidence indicating that such delays were caused by Griffith. Finally, while we have noted that, "[i]f a client who retained an attorney under a contingent-fee agreement discharges that attorney because there is no chance of recovery for the client, the discharge may be for cause, and the attorney may not be entitled to fees in quantum meruit," Universal Acupuncture Pain Services, P.C. v. Quadrino & Schwartz, P.C., 370 F.3d at 265 n.7, we agree with the district [*9] court that the record does not demonstrate this to be such a case."
Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened…
Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened his private law office and took his first legal malpractice case.
Since 1989, Bluestone has become a leader in the New York Plaintiff’s Legal Malpractice bar, handling a wide array of plaintiff’s legal malpractice cases arising from catastrophic personal injury, contracts, patents, commercial litigation, securities, matrimonial and custody issues, medical malpractice, insurance, product liability, real estate, landlord-tenant, foreclosures and has defended attorneys in a limited number of legal malpractice cases.
Bluestone also took an academic role in field, publishing the New York Attorney Malpractice Report from 2002-2004. He started the “New York Attorney Malpractice Blog” in 2004, where he has published more than 4500 entries.
Mr. Bluestone has written 38 scholarly peer-reviewed articles concerning legal malpractice, many in the Outside Counsel column of the New York Law Journal. He has appeared as an Expert witness in multiple legal malpractice litigations.
Mr. Bluestone is an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University College of Law, teaching Legal Malpractice. Mr. Bluestone has argued legal malpractice cases in the Second Circuit, in the New York State Court of Appeals, each of the four New York Appellate Divisions, in all four of the U.S. District Courts of New York and in Supreme Courts all over the state. He has also been admitted pro haec vice in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida and was formally admitted to the US District Court of Connecticut and to its Bankruptcy Court all for legal malpractice matters. He has been retained by U.S. Trustees in legal malpractice cases from Bankruptcy Courts, and has represented municipalities, insurance companies, hedge funds, communications companies and international manufacturing firms. Mr. Bluestone regularly lectures in CLEs on legal malpractice.
Based upon his professional experience Bluestone was named a Diplomate and was Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys in 2008 in Legal Malpractice. He remains Board Certified. He was admitted to The Best Lawyers in America from 2012-2019. He has been featured in Who’s Who in Law since 1993.
In the last years, Mr. Bluestone has been featured for two particularly noteworthy legal malpractice cases. The first was a settlement of an $11.9 million dollar default legal malpractice case of Yeo v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman which was reported in the NYLJ on August 15, 2016. Most recently, Mr. Bluestone obtained a rare plaintiff’s verdict in a legal malpractice case on behalf of the City of White Plains v. Joseph Maria, reported in the NYLJ on February 14, 2017. It was the sole legal malpractice jury verdict in the State of New York for 2017.
Bluestone has been at the forefront of the development of legal malpractice principles and has contributed case law decisions, writing and lecturing which have been recognized by his peers. He is regularly mentioned in academic writing, and his past cases are often cited in current legal malpractice decisions. He is recognized for his ample writings on Judiciary Law § 487, a 850 year old statute deriving from England which relates to attorney deceit.