Opinion
Submitted September 12, 2000
October 2, 2000.
In an action to recover payment for legal services rendered, the defendants appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.), dated September 1, 1999, which granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment dismissing their counterclaims to recover damages for legal malpractice.
Krieger Schneider, LLP, Great Neck, N.Y. (Abraham B. Krieger of counsel), for appellants.
Charles G. Eichinger, P.C., Islandia, N.Y. (Douglas R. DeFeo of counsel), for respondent.
Before: LAWRENCE J. BRACKEN, J.P., ANITA R. FLORIO, HOWARD MILLER, NANCY E. SMITH, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
To recover damages for legal malpractice, it must be established that the attorney failed to exercise that degree of care, skill, and diligence commonly possessed and exercised by members of the legal community, that the attorney's negligence was a proximate cause of the loss sustained by his client, and that the client incurred damages as a direct result of the attorney's actions (see, Won Ten Hwang v. Bierman, 206 A.D.2d 360). In response to the plaintiff's prima facie showing of entitlement to summary judgment dismissing their counterclaims to recover damages for legal malpractice, the defendants failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the plaintiff failed to exercise the degree of skill and care commonly possessed by members of the legal community (see, Rosner v. Paley, 65 N.Y.2d 736 Purificati v. Meyer Diesenhouse, 243 A.D.2d 697).