Adeline Scomello of Suffolk County, N.Y. engaged five attorneys to represent her in divorce proceedings, and sued all five for legal malpractice. Now a judge has finally thrown out, with strong words as to its lack of merit, her pro se suit against lawyer #2 in the series — a suit that lasted for eighteen years. Dismissing her 329-page application for reargument, Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner wrote that New York’s public policy of “unfettered access to the courts” must give way at some point. (Mark Fass, “Judge Halts Pro Se Litigant’s ‘Abusive Litigation Practices’ Against Divorce Lawyers”, New York Law Journal, May 11). (Corrected to fix typo in litigant’s name).
18-year legal malpractice suit
Adeline Scomello of Suffolk County, N.Y. engaged five attorneys to represent her in divorce proceedings, and sued all five for legal malpractice. Now a judge has finally thrown out, with strong words as to its lack of merit, her pro se suit against lawyer #2 in the series — a suit that lasted for eighteen […]
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“Patsy Scomello initiated a divorce action against his wife Adeline in 1986. In the course of those proceedings and a series of appeals, Ms. Scomello hired five separate matrimonial attorneys, against all of whom she subsequently levied malpractice charges…”
Lest there be any doubt about what prompted the divorce in the first place.
FYI, there’s a typo in your post; her name is Scomello, not Scornello.
Right you are. Fixed now.
Well, THAT’s a relief – entirely and obviously frivolous lawsuits are only allowed to proceed for *18 years*. I was afraid they might be allowed to exist long enough to burden the victim, but clearly, I was wrong.