Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; October 30, 2014; New York; State Appellate Court
An appeal was filed by Lahtinen, J.E. against an order from the Supreme Court, which granted defendant Carter, Conboy, Case, Blackmore, Maloney, Laird, EC. summary judgment to dismiss Lahtinen's legal malpractice complaint. The case stemmed from a prior medical malpractice suit (Norton v Nguyen) involving Lahtinen and Patricia Nguyen, both obstetricians, and Nathan Littauer Hospital, where they were sued by Jamie Lee Norton. The defendants were insured by Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company, which assigned defense to the aforementioned law firm. During the jury trial, liability was apportioned, resulting in a $3.2 million judgment against them.
Lahtinen claimed that the law firm’s representation created a conflict of interest and constituted legal malpractice. To succeed in a legal malpractice case, Lahtinen had to prove attorney negligence, that she would have won but for that negligence, and that she suffered actual damages. The court found that the law firm met its burden of proof regarding negligence, proximate cause, and damages, while Lahtinen did not provide sufficient evidence to raise a factual dispute on these elements.
Specifically, the court noted that Lahtinen did not incur any damages from the verdict, as it was fully covered by insurance. Her claims of nonpecuniary damages, including reputational harm, were deemed unsubstantiated because legal malpractice recovery is limited to pecuniary damages. Although Lahtinen resigned from the hospital rather than renewing her contract, any difficulties in securing comparable employment or increases in malpractice premiums were deemed speculative and unsupported by evidence. Consequently, the legal malpractice claim was dismissed, and the order was affirmed with costs.
