Joseph Francoeur (Partner-New York, NY), Ronald Weiner (Of Counsel, New York, NY) and Eve Mouzouris (Associate-New York, NY) secured dismissal in New York Supreme Court, Richmond County on behalf of a law firm client in a case alleging legal malpractice arising out of the law firm's representation of a borrower in an underlying mortgage foreclosure proceeding. The lender's motion for summary judgment was unopposed, and a $9 million judgment was entered against the borrower. The borrower then sued the law firm for breach of the standard of care. However, Joe, Ron and Eve filed a motion to dismiss arguing that only cases where the client "would have prevailed" are actionable, and if the underlying foreclosure case was always going to lose then the attorney cannot be said to have caused any damages and the negligence is excused. The court held the law firm has an absolute defense founded on documentary evidence showing the borrower would not have prevailed, and dismissed the complaint against the law firm in its entirety.
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