Plaintiff's attorneys [Defendants] in this action appeal a Supreme Court order denying Defendants motion for summary judgment dismissing Plaintiff's cause of action alleging legal malpractice.
Plaintiff had brought the instant action after her Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 USC §51 et seq., [FELA] lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority [MTA] was dismissed, with prejudice. Plaintiff alleged that the dismissal of her MTA litigation with prejudice was the result of her Defendants "failure to prosecute" her lawsuit.
Defendants argued that in light of the denial of Plaintiff's application for accidental disability retirement benefits and the dismissal of the Plaintiff's proceeding pursuant to CPLR Article 78 to review the denial of said application, the Plaintiff was collaterally estopped from claiming that she suffered a work-related injury. Thus, Defendant contended, Plaintiff could not establish that she would have prevailed in the FELA action but for the Defendants' "alleged negligent failure to prosecute that action".
The Appellate Division affirmed the Supreme Court's ruling explaining:
1. "A plaintiff in an action alleging legal malpractice must prove the defendant attorney's failure to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession proximately caused the plaintiff to suffer damages;
2. "To establish proximate causation, the plaintiff must show that [he or] she would have prevailed in the underlying action ... but for the defendant attorney's negligence; and
3. "A defendant seeking summary judgment dismissing a legal malpractice cause of action has the burden of establishing prima facie that he or she did not fail to exercise such skill and knowledge, or that the claimed departure did not proximately cause the plaintiff to sustain damages."
The Appellate Division held that "Contrary to the [Defendants'] contention, they failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the cause of action alleging legal malpractice based upon the doctrine of collateral estoppel".
The Court noted that "The doctrine of collateral estoppel, a narrower species of res judicata, precludes a party from relitigating in a subsequent action or proceeding an issue clearly raised in a prior action or proceeding and decided against that party or those in privity." Further, said the Appellate Division, the doctrine applies "only if the issue in the second action is identical to an issue which was raised, necessarily decided and material in the first action, and the ... party to be bound had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the earlier action'".
The Appellate Division ruled that, contrary to the Defendants' contention, the Defendants failed to demonstrate an identity of issues between the FELA action and the determination of either the Plaintiff's application for accidental disability retirement benefits or the CPLR Article 78 proceeding.
In the words of the Appellate Division, "the FELA action involved the issue of whether the MTA's alleged negligence played any part in producing the injuries for which the [Plaintiff] sought damages, that issue was not litigated and necessarily decided against the [Plaintiff] either in the context of her application for accidental disability retirement benefits or in the CPLR article 78 proceeding ... [thus] the defendants failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the cause of action alleging legal malpractice based upon the doctrine of collateral estoppel".
The Appellate Division further observed that Defendants "also failed to establish, prima facie, that the MTA neither created nor had actual or constructive notice of the alleged dangerous conditions at issue in the FELA action .... Thus, the [Defendants] failed to demonstrate, prima facie, that the [Plaintiff] would not have prevailed in the FELA action but for their alleged failure to prosecute that action".
Click HERE to access the decision of the Appellate Division posted on the Internet.