On April 7, 2026, the First Department issued a decision in Link Motion Inc. v. DLA Piper LLP (us), 2026 NY Slip Op. 02066, upholding sanctions awarded against counsel and its client for asserting baseless legal malpractice claims, explaining:
The court correctly awarded sanctions pursuant to 22 NYCRR 130-1.1 against plaintiff and Felicello Law for the assertion of the same frivolous legal malpractice claim that resulted in Rule 11 sanctions in the mirror image federal malpractice action. The record establishes that certain allegations in the complaint were false and that plaintiff and its counsel had no possibility of proving, nor any good faith basis for believing, that DLA acted negligently in its representation. Furthermore, the court providently exercised its discretion in determining, based on the evidence submitted at the fee hearing, the reasonable amount of attorneys’ fees and disbursements incurred by DLA in defending the litigation.