On June 27, 2025, the Fourth Department issued a decision in Claude Mayo Constr. Co., Inc. v. Barclay Damon LLP, 2025 NY Slip Op. 03897, holding that a legal malpractice claim was barred by a favorable settlement, explaining:
To recover damages for legal malpractice, a client must prove (1) that the law firm failed to exercise that degree of care, skill, and diligence commonly possessed by a member of the legal community, (2) proximate cause, (3) damages, and (4) that the client would have been successful in the underlying action had the law firm exercised due care. The fact that an action results in a settlement does not, per se, preclude a legal malpractice action. Where there is a settlement, however, the focus becomes whether settlement of the action was effectively compelled by the mistakes of counsel.
We conclude that defendant’s evidentiary submissions on its motion conclusively established that plaintiff has no cause of action for legal malpractice. Defendant submitted evidence of a favorable settlement in the underlying suit, and that evidence flatly contradicts plaintiff’s conclusory allegations to the effect that the settlement was compelled by the mistakes of counsel.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).