Opinion
14542-14542A Index No. 309640/10 Case No. 2020-04391, 2021-01903, 2021-01930
11-04-2021
Corpo MEDINA, Plaintiff, v. MILLWOOD MARKET, LLC, et al., Defendants. Ross Legan Rosenberg Zelen and Flaks, LLP, Nonparty Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Philip Newman, P.C., Nonparty Defendant–Respondent.
Ross Legan Rosenberg Zelen & Flaks, LLP, New York (Michael Flaks of counsel), for appellant. Paul Bibuld, Bronx, for respondent.
Ross Legan Rosenberg Zelen & Flaks, LLP, New York (Michael Flaks of counsel), for appellant.
Paul Bibuld, Bronx, for respondent.
Gische, J.P., Mazzarelli, Shulman, Pitt, Higgitt, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Alison Y. Tuitt, J.), entered April 27, 2021, in favor of Philip Newman, P.C., outgoing counsel for plaintiff, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered on or about October 2, 2020, which allocated 20% of plaintiff's counsel fees to Philip Newman, P.C. and 80% to incoming counsel Ross Legan Rosenberg Zelen & Flaks, LLP, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in the appeal from the judgment.
Supreme Court correctly found that outgoing counsel was not discharged for cause. Incoming counsel's arguments on this issue either put form over substance or amount to a difference of opinion concerning strategy (see generally Costello v. Kiaer, 278 A.D.2d 50, 717 N.Y.S.2d 560 [1st Dept. 2000] ). The court also providently exercised its discretion in allocating the fees (see e.g. Rivera v. Walter, 122 A.D.3d 442, 442–43, 996 N.Y.S.2d 34 [1st Dept. 2014] ; Garrett v. New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 25 A.D.3d 424, 808 N.Y.S.2d 196 [1st Dept. 2006] ; Diakrousis v. Maganga, 61 A.D.3d 469, 469, 878 N.Y.S.2d 668 [1st Dept. 2009] ; Martin v. Feltingoff, 7 A.D.3d 467, 777 N.Y.S.2d 476 [1st Dept. 2004], lv denied 3 N.Y.3d 608, 785 N.Y.S.2d 25, 818 N.E.2d 667 [2004] ).