Legal Malpractice

Estate of Schneider v. Finmann

Faced with a $500,000 estate tax liability due to an alleged estate planning error, the executors retained our firm to sue the estate planning attorney for legal malpractice. At that time, New York law prohibited a legal malpractice claim by an Estate against the attorney.

Both the New York Supreme Court and the Appellate Division dismissed the case. Taking the case to New York’s highest court, our firm won a reversal in the Court of Appeals, which held that the Estate could sue. A new legal precedent was established. Schneider v. Finmann, 15 NY2d 306 (2010).

In an unrelated case, the New York Jury Verdict Reporter in 2013 reported that our firm won the highest legal malpractice verdict in the State of New York ($954,000).