A state appeals court has rejected a major New York real estate firm’s effort to dismiss a $3 million malpractice suit launched against it by a former client, saying law firm Belkin Burden Goldman “failed to submit an expert opinion” demonstrating that its client representation met the legal community’s “ordinary reasonable skill and care.”

“Defendant did not satisfy its prima facie burden of establishing its entitlement to summary judgment dismissing the complaint as a matter of law, as defendant failed to submit an expert opinion demonstrating that it did not perform below the ordinary reasonable skill and care possessed by an average member of the legal community,” the Appellate Division, First Department court wrote in its opinion denying pre-discovery dismissal to the Belkin firm, while citing the 2010 opinion in Suppiah v Kalish.