Plaintiffs brought a legal malpractice action against law firm Claude Castro and Associates over their dissatisfaction with its work on lawsuits in Housing Court and state Supreme Court arising from carpet beetle infestations in their apartments.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment and dismissed the action, holding that Castro’s decision to refrain initially from raising a warranty-of-habitability defense in his housing court answer, in favor of raising it as an affirmative claim in Supreme Court, was a strategic choice rather than malpractice.
