Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Legal Malpractice — Statute of Limitations — Continuous Representation Doctrine under New York Law

From West Village Assocs. LP v. Balber Pickard Battistoni Maldonado & Ver Dan Tuin, PC, 2008 NY Slip Op 1844, 2008 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1822 (1st Dep’t March 4, 2008):

Under the "continuous representation" doctrine ... a client cannot reasonably be expected to assess the quality of the professional service while it is still in progress (see Greene v Greene, 56 NY2d 86, 94-95 [1982]). The doctrine is "generally limited to the course of representation concerning a specific legal matter," and thus is "not applicable to a client's . . . continuing general relationship with a lawyer . . . involving only routine contact for miscellaneous legal representation . . . unrelated to the matter upon which the allegations of malpractice are predicated" (Shumsky v Eisenstein, 96 NY2d 164, 168 [2001]). The [plaintiff’s] pleading must assert more than simply an extended general relationship between the professional and client, and the facts are required to demonstrate continued representation in the specific matter directly under dispute.

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