On May 19, 2022, the First Department issued a decision in Pope Invs. II LLC v. Belmont Partners, LLC, 2022 NY Slip Op. 03334, holding that investment bankers could be liable for professional malpractice, explaining:
Turning to the professional malpractice claim, we are mindful that the Court of Appeals has left open the question of whether investment bankers may be deemed professionals for the purposes of malpractice liability. However, for pleading purposes, the motion court correctly determined that plaintiffs adequately alleged that defendants departed from accepted standards of practice and that the departure was a proximate cause of the injury in defendants’ capacity as investment bankers. To that end, the amended complaint specifically alleges that defendants were professionals with a duty to structure the transaction in a way that was enforceable, not susceptible to embezzlement, and to perform due diligence, and the failure to fulfill those duties with the usual degree of skill was the proximate cause of plaintiffs’ injuries, fulfilling the pleading elements for the claim.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).