MacArthur v. Hall, McNicol, Hamilton & Clark

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Beverly Cohen, J.), entered December 2, 1994, which, in an action for legal malpractice, granted defendant’s motion, and denied plaintiffs cross motion for summary judgment, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

In the late 1970’s, defendant appeared as counsel of record in an action that was assigned to plaintiff in December 1981. Although defendant transferred all case files to plaintiffs attorney in January 1982, defendant was never formally substituted in accordance with CPLR 321 (b). For the next four years, plaintiff took no steps to prosecute the…