Opinion
No. 16162 Index No. 650616/16 Case No. 2022-00876
06-21-2022
Scopia Windmill LP, et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, Defendant-Appellant.
Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, New York (Peter M. Sartorius of counsel), for appellant. The Law Offices of Thomas C. Moore, Bronxville (Thomas C. Moore of counsel), for respondents.
Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, New York (Peter M. Sartorius of counsel), for appellant.
The Law Offices of Thomas C. Moore, Bronxville (Thomas C. Moore of counsel), for respondents.
Before: Gische, J.P., Friedman, González, Rodriguez, Pitt, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Andrea Masley, J.), entered February 1, 2022, which denied defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the legal malpractice claim, unanimously affirmed, with costs.
Plaintiffs assert a legal malpractice claim alleging that defendant law firm was negligent in failing to perfect a security interest by timely filing a UCC-1 financing statement in connection with a loan they made. Contrary to defendant's contention, the allegations underlying the claim are not "couched in terms of gross speculations on future events" (see Phillips-Smith Specialty Retail Group II v Parker Chapin Flattau & Klimpl, 265 A.D.2d 208 [1st Dept 1999], lv denied 94 N.Y.2d 759 [2000]). To the contrary, supported by plausible expert opinion, they depict a hypothetical course of events flowing from the failure to file that caused plaintiffs ascertainable damage that would not have occurred had the lien been timely filed, thereby raising an issue of fact sufficient to defeat summary dismissal of the claim (see e.g. A&L Vil. Mkt., Inc. v 344 Vil., Inc., 170 A.D.3d 1095 [2d Dept 2019]).