The First Department dismissed a legal malpractice complaint arising out of a matrimonial action, in Fleming v. Vassallo, which was decided on August 2, 2007. Plaintiff had alleged that defendant directed her, over her objection, to reject a purported settlement offer from her former husband, and that, after years of costly litigation, she received far less than he had originally offered.

On the record, though, the court found evidence that no concrete settlement offer was made between March 1987, when the divorce action was commenced, and October 1987, when defendant was retained as counsel. Indeed, there was no evidence that there had ever been even a preliminary agreement as to the financial terms of a settlement.

Therefore, said the court, plaintiff had no cognizable claim that defendant committed malpractice by pressing forward with the litigation. The court added that it found no evidence that defendant was in any way responsible for the fact that the matrimonial action was ultimately resolved in a manner that was not to plaintiff's liking. To the contrary, the evidence showed that the disposition of the economic issues was dictated by the reduced financial circumstances of plaintiff's then-husband, and not by any mishandling of the matter by defendant.