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Author Archives: Paul Leclair

Advocate’s View: Attorney fee applications and Dante’s ‘Inferno’

Making an attorney fee application causes me considerable angst. Even though the application comes on the heels of a successful outcome, it is too personal. While the primary litigation is certainly a test of an attorney’s substantive knowledge, experience and strategic acumen ...

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A lovers’ … er, fiduciaries’ quarrel

Chalk one up to Lord Byron’s adage that truth is stranger than fiction. In a case involving a former husband and wife, the New York State Court of Appeals recently rendered a decision finding the defendant wife presented facts sufficient ...

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Upon further consideration …

On May 5, the New York State Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division, Fourth Department in the Article 78 case of Matter of Infante, as Administrator of Estate of Rosemary Infante v. Dignan, MD, Medical Examiner, __NY2d__, 2009 WL ...

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An instructive Article 78 decision to live by

A recent Fourth Department decision, with two justices dissenting, reminds litigation attorneys of the difficult standards of review that govern in Article 78 proceedings, but also of the need to zealously take every opportunity to present facts that put a ...

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Pleading fraud against individual defendants

On May 8, the New York State Court of Appeals rendered a 4-2 decision in Pludeman v. Northern Leasing Systems Inc., holding that the requirements of CPLR 3016(b) — a litigant must specifically plead a cause of action in fraud ...

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The use of alternative measures of damage

Preparing a party’s financial damages claim for trial can be an anxiety-provoking experience. In a non-personal injury setting involving financial damages, there are many issues. Some critical ones include the appropriate measure of damages, the tension between using your client ...

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