<partyblock> <br><br><div align="center"><b><font size="+1">Jose Borges, Plaintiff-Respondent, <br><br>against<br><br>Alfred Placeres, Defendant-Appellant.</font></b></div><br><br> <p>Defendant, as limited by his briefs, appeals from (1) an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Dakota D. Ramseur, J.), dated June 27, 2018, which, upon plaintiff judgment-creditor's motion for a turnover order, directed defendant judgment-debtor to assign to plaintiff an unasserted legal malpractice cause of action that defendant has against his litigation counsel in the underlying action, and (2) an order (same court and Judge), dated November 2, 2018, which, upon reargument, adhered to the prior determination.</p> <p>Per Curiam.</p> <p>Order (Dakota D. Ramseur, J.), dated June 27, 2018, insofar as appealed from, reversed, with $10 costs, and the motion denied. Appeal from order (Dakota D. Ramseur, J.), dated November 2, 2018, dismissed, without costs, as academic.</p> <p>The underlying facts of this legal malpractice case are set forth in our prior decision (<a href="../2014/2014_24053.htm" target="_blank"><i>see Borges v Placeres</i>, 43 Misc 3d 61</a> [App Term, 1st Dept 2014], <i>affd</i> 123 AD3d 611 [2014]). Briefly stated, plaintiff, a Venezuelan native, retained defendant Placeres, an attorney, in connection with an immigration matter. As a result of Placeres' negligence (i.e., his departure from an attorney's professional standard of care), the Immigration Court issued an <i>in absentia </i>deportation order against plaintiff, resulting in plaintiff spending 14 months in detention lockdown. The jury verdict finding that defendant committed malpractice, and awarding plaintiff damages in the amount of $1,249,121.37, inclusive of $900,000 for pain and suffering, was affirmed following two appeals.</p> <p>It is not seriously disputed that, but for the error of Placeres' litigation counsel, namely Jose Luis Torres and Brian Robinson, in failing to object to plaintiff's pain and suffering evidence or the related jury charge and verdict sheet, Placeres might not have been liable for <font color="FF0000">[*2]</font>$900,000 in pain and suffering damages (<i>see Borges v Placeres</i>, 43 Misc 3d at 64).<sup><a href="#1FN" name="1CASE"><b>[FN1]</b></a></sup> After the verdict, Placeres filed for bankruptcy, but he was ultimately denied a discharge because he "knowingly failed to disclose" his potential malpractice claim against his litigation counsel, for the errors resulting in the $900,000 pain and suffering award <i>(In re Placeres</i>, 578 BR 505, 523 [Bankr SD NY 2017]).</p> <p>Plaintiff's judgment against Placeres remains unsatisfied. As a means of enforcing the judgment, plaintiff moved, inter alia, for an order directing Placeres to turnover or assign to plaintiff the (unasserted) cause of action for legal malpractice that Placeres has against his litigation counsel. Placeres opposed the motion on various grounds. As the Bankruptcy Court explained, Placeres refused to assign the malpractice cause of action to plaintiff because his attorney of record, specifically, Jose Luis Torres, "was his friend since high school, he represented Placeres for free, Torres did not represent him at trial and he was not going to throw Torres 'under the bus'" (<i>In re Placeres</i>, 578 BR at 523).</p> <p>Civil Court granted plaintiff's motion to the extent that "any and all rights to any prospective cause of action arising from the professional negligence ...
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