On April 1, 2024, Justice Masley of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Mandour v. Rafalsky, 2024 NY Slip Op. 31086(U), holding that a legal malpractice claim based on a conflict of interest accrues on the date the attorney should have disclosed the conflict but failed to do so, explaining:
A party moving under CPLR 3211 (a) (5) to dismiss an action as time-barred bears the initial burden of establishing, prima facie, that the time in which to sue has expired. Once that showing has been made, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to raise a question of fact as to whether the statute of limitations has been tolled, an exception to the limitations period is applicable, or the plaintiff actually commenced the action within the applicable limitations period. . . .
The Rafalsky defendants argue that the legal malpractice claim is time-barred. A three-year statute of limitations governs a cause of action for legal malpractice, which begins to accrue when the malpractice is committed, not when the client learns of it. Where the alleged malpractice claim is predicated upon the attorney’s failure to disclose a conflict of interest, the claim accrues from that date.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).