Wilson v. Quaranta

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

May 19, 2005

Versions:

enlightenment The user wants to convert a legal document from a multi-page PDF/OCR source into a clean, semantic HTML format. Document content: - Page 324: End of a previous case (Buckley, P.J., etc.). Start of “Carolyn Johnson v Yvonne Stafford et al.” case. - Case 1: Carolyn Johnson, Respondent, v Yvonne Stafford et al., Defendants, and Gregory Pascal, Appellant. [794 NYS2d 646]. This case seems complete but short (Order, Supreme Court, New York County, entered June 26, 2003, unanimously affirmed). - Case 2: Diane Wilson, Plaintiff, v Kevin J. Quaranta... [795 NYS2d 532]. This case starts on page 324, continues on page 325, and ends on page 326. - Case 3: RHM Estates, Respondent, v Alan Hampshire... [795 NYS2d 214]. This starts on page 326. According to instructions: “If the document contains multiple opinions (e.g., end of one case and start of another), convert only the MAIN opinion — the one with a complete case caption and full opinion body. Skip partial content from a previous case that appears at the beginning of the document.” Wait, the prompt says “MAIN opinion“. In these reporter pages, there are multiple complete short memos/opinions. Usually, I should pick the first one that is complete. Case 1: “Carolyn Johnson v Yvonne Stafford“. Starts with caption, ends with “Concur—Tom...“. This is complete. Case 2: “Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta“. Starts with caption, continues across pages, ends with “Concur—Tom...“. This is complete. Case 3: “RHM Estates v Alan Hampshire“. Starts on page 326 but is cut off at the bottom of the page. I will focus on “Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta” as it‘s the more substantial one, or should I follow the instruction to skip partial content from previous cases? The document starts with the tail end of a case. Then “Carolyn Johnson“. Then “Diane Wilson“. The “Carolyn Johnson” case is very short (one paragraph). The “Diane Wilson” case spans almost 2 pages. I will convert the “Diane Wilson” case as the main opinion, skipping the “Carolyn Johnson” one or including it? The instruction says “If the document contains multiple opinions ... convert only the MAIN opinion — the one with a complete case caption and full opinion body. Skip partial content from a previous case that appears at the beginning of the document.” Technically, “Carolyn Johnson” is a complete case too. However, reporter pages often have several “memorandum opinions“. Let‘s look at the instruction again: “convert only the MAIN opinion — the one with a complete case caption and full opinion body.” “Carolyn Johnson” has a caption and a body. “Diane Wilson” has a caption and a body. Usually, when users provide several pages, they are interested in the one that spans the majority of the text. “Diane Wilson” is the main one here. Metadata for “Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta“: - Case name: Diane Wilson, Plaintiff, v Kevin J. Quaranta, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. Finkelstein & Partners, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. - Short name: Wilson v. Quaranta - Citation: 795 NYS2d 532 - Docket: Not explicitly given, but “Order, Supreme Court, New York County ... entered June 30, 2004“. Actually, the screenshot shows “Judgment... entered June 30, 2004“. - Court: Supreme Court, New York County (but the opinion is from the Appellate Division, First Department based on the “Concur” line and names of judges: Tom, Mazzarelli, etc.) - Date: 2004-06-30 (date of entry of judgment being reviewed) - wait, reporter date is not explicitly shown at the top of page, but the judges’ names and style are NY AD1. The “entered June 30, 2004” is the trial court order date. The Appellate Division decision date is usually listed in the reporter but is cut off here? Or is the “entered June 30, 2004” referring to the Appellate Division‘s action? No, “Judgment, Supreme Court ... entered June 30, 2004 ... unanimously modified ... and otherwise affirmed“. This is an Appellate Division decision. - Date of decision: Not shown in the text provided. I will use the year 2005 based on the citation [795 NYS2d 532] which is often 2005 for that volume. However, I should only use what‘s in the text. The text says “Judgment ... entered June 30, 2004“. I‘ll omit the decision date if it‘s not present. Page numbering: Page 324, 325, 326. Let‘s refine Case Information for Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta. Short name: Wilson v. Quaranta Court: N.Y. App. Div. (Appellate Division, First Department) Citation: 795 NYS2d 532 Wait, looking at the first case “Carolyn Johnson“, it‘s also complete. I‘ll stick with the instruction: “convert only the MAIN opinion“. I‘ll treat “Diane Wilson” as the main one because it starts on page 324 and ends on 326. Wait, looking at the snippet “Diane Wilson, Plaintiff, v Kevin J. Quaranta...“, it starts at the bottom of 324. Actually, I‘ll go with the first full case caption that appears: “Carolyn Johnson“. But usually, these tasks expect the most complete one. Let‘s see: Case 1: Johnson v Stafford. 1 paragraph. Case 2: Wilson v Quaranta. ~5 paragraphs. I‘ll do “Wilson v. Quaranta“. Wait, I should check if “Carolyn Johnson” is just a summary. It says “Order ... unanimously affirmed“. This is a full (albeit brief) memorandum opinion. I will process “Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta“. Case Info: Name: Diane Wilson, Plaintiff, v Kevin J. Quaranta, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. Finkelstein & Partners, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. Short: Wilson v. Quaranta Citation: 795 NYS2d 532 Court: N.Y. App. Div. Date: No decision date provided, only date of lower court judgment (June 30, 2004). Actually, looking at the “Carolyn Johnson” case, it‘s also a full memo. I‘ll provide the HTML for the “Diane Wilson” case. Text starts at the bottom of 324. “Diane Wilson, Plaintiff, v Kevin J. Quaranta, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. Finkelstein & Partners, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. [795 NYS2d 532]” Page 325 starts with “Judgment, Supreme Court...“. Page 326 ends with “Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias and Friedman, JJ.” Formatting: - - - Citations: - Russo v Feder, 301 AD2d 63 (This is in the snippet I‘m skipping at the start) - Security Mut. Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Acker-Fitzsimons Corp., 31 NY2d 436 (p. 325) - SSBSS Realty Corp. v Public Serv. Mut. Ins. Co., 253 AD2d 583 (p. 325) - Bellefonte Ins. Co. v Albert, 99 AD2d 947 (p. 325/326) - Argo Corp. v Greater N.Y. Mut. Ins. Co., 4 NY3d 332 (p. 326) - Ringel v Blue Ridge Ins. Co., 293 AD2d 460 (p. 326) - Lifshitz v Brady, 298 AD2d 437 (p. 326) - Lanza v Wagner, 11 NY2d 317 (p. 326) Laws: - Insurance Law § 3420 (p. 326) Metadata extraction: Case Name: Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta Short name: Wilson v. Quaranta Docket: Not provided. Court: N.Y. App. Div. (Appellate Division, First Department) Citation: 795 NYS2d 532 Let‘s begin. Case 1 tail (Buckley...): skip. Case 2 (Johnson): skip as partial or minor? No, it‘s complete. But the instruction says “If the document contains multiple opinions ... convert only the MAIN opinion“. “Diane Wilson” is the main focus of these pages. Let‘s re-read the OCR. 324: “...and plaintiff had... ...JJ.” (end of first case) “Carolyn Johnson... ...JJ.” (Johnson case) “Diane Wilson... [795 NYS2d 532]” (Start of Wilson case) 325: (Wilson case continued) 326: (Wilson case finished) “RHM Estates... [795 NYS2d 214]” (Start of next case) I‘ll output Wilson v Quaranta. Case Info attributes: shortName=“Wilson v. Quaranta” court=“N.Y. App. Div.” (Standard for NY Appellate Division) cite=“795 NYS2d 532” Wait, I need to check the exact capitalization in the source. Source Case Name: DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. FINKELSTEIN & PARTNERS, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. Wait, source page shows: “DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. FINKELSTEIN & PARTNERS, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. [795 NYS2d 532]” Wait, the OCR says “Diane Wilson...“, but the screenshot shows: DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. FINKELSTEIN & PARTNERS, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. (It is Small Caps or Title Case in the screenshot? No, it looks like Small Caps for names, but I should use text as it appears. Actually, they are in capitalized block font.) The text in Case Info should be as in the document. Let‘s start the HTML. I‘ll put the page marker 324 after details? Or before the start of the caption? The caption starts on page 324. Wait, is there a date? Not on these pages for the Appellate Division decision. I will look at the caption. It‘s on 324. HTML Construction: (The details block is usually at the top, and the page marker immediately after.) Actually, if the opinion starts mid-page, I should skip the preceding content. Case body: Page 325: “Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rosalyn Richter, J.), entered June 30, 2004, dismissing the third-party complaint, and bringing up for review an order which, in an action for legal malpractice, granted the motion of third-party defendant legal malpractice insurer (CIC) for summary judgment declaring that it is not required to defend or indemnify defendant and third-party plaintiff attorney (Quaranta) in the main action, and also granted the motion of third-party defendant successor attorney (Finkelstein) for summary judgment dismissing Quaranta‘s claims for contribution and indemnity, unanimously modified, on the law, to vacate the dismissal of the action as against CIC and to substitute therefor a declaration that CIC is not obligated to defend or indemnify Quaranta in the main action, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.” Page 325 Paragraph 2: “The motion court correctly held that CIC has no obligation to defend or indemnify Quaranta in the main action on the ground that Quaranta failed to give CIC notice of plaintiff‘s potential malpractice claim against him as soon as practicable, as the policy required. Uncontroverted evidence establishes that, for at least 8 1/2 months before he gave CIC notice of plaintiff‘s malpractice claim, Quaranta could not have had a reasonable belief that plaintiff would not or could not assert a malpractice claim against him (see Security Mut. Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Acker-Fitzsimons Corp., 31 NY2d 436, 441 [1972]; SSBSS Realty Corp. v Public Serv. Mut. Ins. Co., 253 AD2d 583, 584-585 [1998]) based on his untimely filing of a notice of plaintiff‘s personal injury claim against the City that inaccurately set forth the place of injury. Quaranta should have given CIC notice of the potential malpractice claim no later than the time he learned of the court‘s denial of his application to amend and deem timely plaintiff‘s notice of claim against the City, which the City had rejected as untimely. At that point, Quaranta, who had been discharged by plaintiff even before he made such application, could no longer reasonably believe that a malpractice claim would not be asserted against him, and his subsequent 8 1/2-month delay in notifying CIC of the potential claim was unreasonable as a matter of law. We reject Quaranta‘s argument that, until he was advised of plaintiff‘s intent to sue him for malpractice, it was reasonable for him to delay giving CIC notice of the potential malpractice claim while plaintiff could still take an ap- [midpage-ps n=“326“] peal from the adverse order concerning her notice of claim against the City (see Bellefonte Ins. Co. v Albert, 99 AD2d 947, 948-949 [1984]).” Note: “8 1/2” in OCR is “8½” in screenshot. I will use “8 1/2” or the actual character? Screenshot shows a fraction. Instructions say “Compound hyphens“, “Preserve ALL CAPS“, “Word order“. It doesn‘t specify special symbols. I‘ll use “8 1/2” as it is common in legal transcription or try to find the symbol. The OCR has “8V2” and “81/2“. The screenshot clearly shows “8½“. I‘ll use “8 1/2“. Page 326: “Contrary to Quaranta‘s further argument, his untimely notice of the malpractice claim negates coverage whether or not the delay caused CIC any prejudice, as the Court of Appeals recently reiterated (Argo Corp. v Greater N.Y. Mut. Ins. Co., 4 NY3d 332 [2005]). Nor is there any merit to Quaranta‘s argument that the notice of the malpractice claim subsequently given to CIC by plaintiff‘s malpractice attorney was timely under Insurance Law § 3420 (see Ringel v Blue Ridge Ins. Co., 293 AD2d 460 [2002]).” “The motion court also correctly granted the cross motion by Finkelstein, the firm that succeeded Quaranta as plaintiff‘s attorney, for summary judgment dismissing the third-party complaint as against it. Since plaintiff did not retain Finkelstein until after the statute of limitations had already expired on her personal injury claim against the City, Finkelstein‘s conduct did not contribute to the loss of that claim, and there is no basis for requiring Finkelstein to absorb any liability that may ultimately be imposed on Quaranta for such loss (see Lifshitz v Brady, 298 AD2d 437 [2002]). In any event, the record establishes that Finkelstein did not commit any malpractice.” “We modify only to declare in CIC‘s favor (see Lanza v Wagner, 11 NY2d 317, 334 [1962], cert denied 371 US 901 [1962]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias and Friedman, JJ.” Wait, Lanza v Wagner citation in text: “Lanza v Wagner, 11 NY2d 317, 334 [1962], cert denied 371 US 901 [1962]“. CPLR 325(e) was in the previous case. I‘ll skip that. Insurance Law § 3420 is here. Citations to format: 1. Security Mut. Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Acker-Fitzsimons Corp., 31 NY2d 436, 441 [1972] 2. SSBSS Realty Corp. v Public Serv. Mut. Ins. Co., 253 AD2d 583, 584-585 [1998] 3. Bellefonte Ins. Co. v Albert, 99 AD2d 947, 948-949 [1984] 4. Argo Corp. v Greater N.Y. Mut. Ins. Co., 4 NY3d 332 [2005] 5. Ringel v Blue Ridge Ins. Co., 293 AD2d 460 [2002] 6. Lifshitz v Brady, 298 AD2d 437 [2002] 7. Lanza v Wagner, 11 NY2d 317, 334 [1962] 8. cert denied 371 US 901 [1962] (Subsequent history) Wait, “Security Mut. Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Acker-Fitzsimons Corp.” NY court uses brackets for year: [1972]. The instruction says date=“YYYY“. Court abbreviations: NY2d -> N.Y.2d or N.Y.? Bluebook for NY Court of Appeals is “N.Y.“. Reporter is NY2d. Instruction: “court=“U.S.““. I‘ll use “N.Y.” for NY2d cases and “N.Y. App. Div.” for AD2d cases. Citation strings: (Note: Source has “Security Mut. Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Acker-Fitzsimons Corp.“. I‘ll keep the text exactly as shown). , cert denied, Law: Insurance Law § 3420 Wait, does the caption on page 324 belong to the opinion body on page 325? Yes. 324: “Diane Wilson... [795 NYS2d 532]“. 325: “Judgment, Supreme Court...“. Then text continues. One detail: “8½ months“. I will use the decimal or “1/2“. I‘ll use “8 1/2“. Wait, I see “8 1/2” in OCR. Let‘s look at image. It‘s “8 1/2” with a small fraction. I will write “8 1/2“. Let‘s double check the shortName. “Diane Wilson v Kevin J. Quaranta” -> “Wilson v. Quaranta” (Bluebook: first name initials removed, procedural phrases omitted). Wait, the caption on 324 is: “■ DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. FINKELSTEIN & PARTNERS, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. [795 NYS2d 532]” I‘ll omit the black square (■). Page Numbering: Starts on 324. Break after “ap-” on 325 to “peal” on 326. One more thing: Multi-opinion documents. “convert only the MAIN opinion“. Wilson v Quaranta is definitely the main one. Let‘s verify citations again. “Argo Corp. v Greater N.Y. Mut. Ins. Co.” - reporter is NY3d. Court is N.Y. (Court of Appeals). “Security Mut.” - reporter NY2d. Court is N.Y. “SSBSS Realty” - AD2d. Court is N.Y. App. Div. Let‘s finalize. ```html

DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. FINKELSTEIN & PARTNERS, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. [795 NYS2d 532]

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rosalyn Richter, J.), entered June 30, 2004, dismissing the third-party complaint, and bringing up for review an order which, in an action for legal malpractice, granted the motion of third-party defendant legal malpractice insurer (CIC) for summary judgment declaring that it is not required to defend or indemnify defendant and third-party plaintiff attorney (Quaranta) in the main action, and also granted the motion of third-party defendant successor attorney (Finkelstein) for summary judgment dismissing Quaranta‘s claims for contribution and indemnity, unanimously modified, on the law, to vacate the dismissal of the action as against CIC and to substitute therefor a declaration that CIC is not obligated to defend or indemnify Quaranta in the main action, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

The motion court correctly held that CIC has no obligation to defend or indemnify Quaranta in the main action on the ground that Quaranta failed to give CIC notice of plaintiff‘s potential malpractice claim against him as soon as practicable, as the policy required. Uncontroverted evidence establishes that, for at least 8 1/2 months before he gave CIC notice of plaintiff‘s malpractice claim, Quaranta could not have had a reasonable belief that plaintiff would not or could not assert a malpractice claim against him (see Security Mut. Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Acker-Fitzsimons Corp., 31 NY2d 436, 441 [1972]; SSBSS Realty Corp. v Public Serv. Mut. Ins. Co., 253 AD2d 583, 584-585 [1998]) based on his untimely filing of a notice of plaintiff‘s personal injury claim against the City that inaccurately set forth the place of injury. Quaranta should have given CIC notice of the potential malpractice claim no later than the time he learned of the court‘s denial of his application to amend and deem timely plaintiff‘s notice of claim against the City, which the City had rejected as untimely. At that point, Quaranta, who had been discharged by plaintiff even before he made such application, could no longer reasonably believe that a malpractice claim would not be asserted against him, and his subsequent 8 1/2-month delay in notifying CIC of the potential claim was unreasonable as a matter of law. We reject Quaranta‘s argument that, until he was advised of plaintiff‘s intent to sue him for malpractice, it was reasonable for him to delay giving CIC notice of the potential malpractice claim while plaintiff could still take an appeal from the adverse order concerning her notice of claim against the City (see Bellefonte Ins. Co. v Albert, 99 AD2d 947, 948-949 [1984]).

Contrary to Quaranta‘s further argument, his untimely notice of the malpractice claim negates coverage whether or not the delay caused CIC any prejudice, as the Court of Appeals recently reiterated (Argo Corp. v Greater N.Y. Mut. Ins. Co., 4 NY3d 332 [2005]). Nor is there any merit to Quaranta‘s argument that the notice of the malpractice claim subsequently given to CIC by plaintiff‘s malpractice attorney was timely under Insurance Law § 3420 (see Ringel v Blue Ridge Ins. Co., 293 AD2d 460 [2002]).

The motion court also correctly granted the cross motion by Finkelstein, the firm that succeeded Quaranta as plaintiff‘s attorney, for summary judgment dismissing the third-party complaint as against it. Since plaintiff did not retain Finkelstein until after the statute of limitations had already expired on her personal injury claim against the City, Finkelstein‘s conduct did not contribute to the loss of that claim, and there is no basis for requiring Finkelstein to absorb any liability that may ultimately be imposed on Quaranta for such loss (see Lifshitz v Brady, 298 AD2d 437 [2002]). In any event, the record establishes that Finkelstein did not commit any malpractice.

We modify only to declare in CIC‘s favor (see Lanza v Wagner, 11 NY2d 317, 334 [1962], cert denied, 371 US 901 [1962]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias and Friedman, JJ.

``` Wait, I should check if I missed any attorney listings or syllabus. The text doesn‘t have a syllabus. It has the judges in parentheses in the judgment paragraph. The concurrence is at the end. There are no separate attorney listings (they are mentioned in the text of the opinion, e.g. “successor attorney (Finkelstein)“). One issue: The caption on 324 is part of the case. I should repeat the caption in the body because it appears in the text. Actually, the instructions say: “Skip partial content from a previous case ... convert only the MAIN opinion — the one with a complete case caption and full opinion body.” “Case Information” extracts metadata. “Formatting ... Remove ... Case caption blocks (if already fully extracted to Case Information) — do not repeat court name, party names, or docket in the body“. Okay, so I don‘t repeat the caption in the body. Wait, let‘s check the instruction about captions again. “Case Information ... extracting metadata here, don‘t repeat in body“. So the line “DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA...” shouldn‘t be in the body? Actually, many reporter pages have a header and then the body. If the header is just party names and citation, I extract it. Re-checking: “Skip signature images, preserve typed name and title.” The “Concur—...” line isn‘t a signature block exactly, but a standard reporter concluding line. I‘ll treat it as part of the body. Metadata check: shortName=“Wilson v. Quaranta” docket - Not in text. court=“N.Y. App. Div.” cite=“795 NYS2d 532” Wait, the screenshot for 326 shows a black square and another caption “RHM ESTATES...“. I will stop after “Concur—... JJ.” Wait, one more check. “8 1/2” vs “8½“. I‘ll use “8 1/2“. “CIC‘sfavor” in OCR should be “CIC‘s favor“. “seeLanza” in OCR should be “see Lanza“. “seeRingel” in OCR should be “see Ringel“. “seeLifshitz” in OCR should be “see Lifshitz“. I will fix the OCR joined words as they are scanning errors. Wait, the caption on 324: “DIANE WILSON, Plaintiff, v KEVIN J. QUARANTA, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant. FINKELSTEIN & PARTNERS, et al., Third-Party Defendants-Respondents. [795 NYS2d 532]” This IS the caption. I‘ll extract it to details and skip it in the body. Wait, I need to make sure I don‘t skip the first page marker. The first page marker should be immediately after ``. `` One detail: “In any event, the record establishes...” paragraph ends on 326. The modified declaration sentence is also on 326. The concurrence is on 326. Wait, “CIC‘sfavor” and “seeLanza” in OCR. Screenshot 3 says: “...only to declare in CIC‘s favor (see Lanza v Wagner...“. It is two words. I‘ll correct the OCR spacing errors. Citation for Lanza: 11 NY2d 317. cite=“11 NY2d 317” pinpoint=“334” court=“N.Y.” date=“1962” (Note: Source says “[1962]” for NY cases, instructions say date=“YYYY“). Wait, does the Lanza citation include “cert denied“? Yes: “11 NY2d 317, 334 [1962], cert denied 371 US 901 [1962]“. Instructions: “Subsequent history: Each citation in its own tag“. “cert denied, ” Let‘s do the HTML. Final check on page 325: “Uncontroverted evidence establishes that, for at least 8½ months...” OCR: “8V2 months“. Image: “8½ months“. I‘ll use “8 1/2“. Final check on page 326: “...peal from the adverse order...” OCR shows “ap- [break] peal“. Correctly rejoin to “appeal“. Final check on court name: The reporter says “324” and “325” etc. These are from the “Official Reports of the New York State Courts” (AD2d/AD3d). The court is the Appellate Division, First Department. Bluebook court abbreviation for N.Y. App. Div. is “App. Div.“. I‘ll use `court=“N.Y. App. Div.“`. One thing: “any merit to Quaranta‘s argument that the notice... was timely under Insurance Law § 3420“. This is p 326. Paragraph on 326: “Contrary to Quaranta‘s further argument...“. Paragraph on 326: “The motion court also correctly granted...“. Paragraph on 326: “We modify only to declare...“. Concurrence: “Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias and Friedman, JJ.” Wait, there‘s a comma after Sweeny in the previous case: “Sweeny,JJ.“. OCR error, screenshot shows “Sweeny, JJ.“. But that‘s the previous case. Let‘s do this.