Richard W. Boone Jr. (Partner-New York, NY) and Siobhán A. Mueller (Associate-New York, NY), recently prevailed on a CPLR 3211 motion to dismiss in Westchester Supreme Court in a case involving alleged violation of Judiciary Law § 487, fraud and declaratory judgment against our client lawyer and his firm. The clients served as legal expert in an underlying divorce proceeding, and the plaintiff alleged that they made false representations in an affidavit filed with the court as part of an imagined scheme to disparage the plaintiff before the court in connection with a custody hearing. The court agreed with Richard and Siobhán’s arguments, and dismissed the Judiciary Law § 487 claim because “the alleged representations and conduct complained of were well within the bounds of the adversarial proceeding and do not appear to be outrageous or egregious” and, therefore, the plaintiff’s factual allegations did not support a cause of action under the statute. The court further reasoned that “an attorney’s assertion of unfounded allegations, even if made for an improper purpose, does not provide a basis for liability under Judiciary Law 487.” The court also dismissed the fraud claim because the plaintiff failed to allege details “indicating that defendants made a misrepresentation for the purpose of inducing the plaintiff's reliance thereon or that the plaintiff justifiably relied on the misrepresentation to his detriment.” The plaintiff, instead, made “conclusory assertion[s] that he reasonably relied on the defendants’ alleged misrepresentations.” Lastly, the court dismissed the declaratory judgment claim because the plaintiff failed to allege facts showing the existence of a justiciable controversy. The matter is presently on appeal in the Second Department.