No Malpractice Cause Of Action Against Opposing Counsel

An order dismissing a legal malpractice case was affirmed by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department:

Here, even viewing the factual allegations of the complaint as true, they failed to adequately state a legally cognizable cause of action. Indeed, in this action against the attorneys who represented her adversaries in unrelated litigation, the plaintiff cannot allege the existence of the requisite contractual, fiduciary, or attorney-client relationship between herself and the defendants to support her various claims sounding in breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and legal malpractice (see generally Breen v Law Off. of Bruce A. Barket, P.C., 52 AD3d 635, 636-637).  Likewise, the plaintiff cannot properly plead reasonable reliance on the representations of another party's counsel so as to support her claim of fraud (see Mann v Rusk, 14 AD3d 909, 909-910).

(Mike Frisch)