Opinion
9365 Index 301456/16
05-21-2019
Jose ORTIZ, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. JOEL J. TURNEY, LLC, et al., Defendants–Appellants.
Joel J. Turney, LLC, New York (Joel J. Turney of counsel), for appellants. Joseph A. Altman, P.C. Bronx (Joseph A. Altman of counsel), for respondent.
Joel J. Turney, LLC, New York (Joel J. Turney of counsel), for appellants.
Joseph A. Altman, P.C. Bronx (Joseph A. Altman of counsel), for respondent.
Acosta, P.J., Richter, Manzanet–Daniels, Webber, Kern, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered on or about January 16, 2018, which, in this action alleging legal malpractice, granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability and remanded the matter for a trial on damages, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendants' letter to plaintiff, in which they admit that plaintiff's underlying property damage action was not timely commenced and state that they will "willingly compensate [him] for all actual damages subject to proof and interest since the time of the loss," constitutes an admission of defendants' negligence and that it was the proximate cause of plaintiff's loss (see Marchi Jaffe Cohen Crystal Rosner & Katz v. All–Star Video Corp., 107 A.D.2d 597, 483 N.Y.S.2d 707 [1st Dept. 1985] ; see generally Leder v. Spiegel, 31 A.D.3d 266, 267–268, 819 N.Y.S.2d 26 [1st Dept. 2006], affd 9 N.Y.3d 836, 840 N.Y.S.2d 888, 872 N.E.2d 1194 [2007], cert denied 552 U.S. 1257, 128 S.Ct. 1696, 170 L.Ed.2d 354 [2008] ). Contrary to defendants' contentions, the language of the letter cannot be interpreted in any other manner.
We have considered defendants' remaining arguments and find them unavailing.