Opinion
570037/04.
Decided August 11, 2004.
Defendant appeals from an order of the Civil Court, New York County, entered October 17, 2003 (Donna G. Recant, J.) which denied defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) and CPLR 3211(a)(7).
Order entered October 17, 2003 (Donna G. Recant, J.) affirmed, with $10 costs.
PRESENT: HON. LUCINDO SUAREZ, P.J. HON. WILLIAM P. McCOOE HON. MARTIN SCHOENFELD, Justices.
The court below properly denied defendant's pre-answer motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) and 3211(a)(7). Defendant failed to conclusively establish that no attorney-client relationship existed between defendant and plaintiff with respect to the underlying bankruptcy proceeding and, in particular, defendant's handling of certain distribution checks payable to plaintiff. We note that a formal retainer agreement is not essential to the formation of an attorney-client relationship and that it is sufficient if the words and conduct of the parties show that there was an explicit undertaking to render services (Talansky v. Schulman, 2 AD3d 355, 358; Rann v. Lerner, 160 AD2d 922, 923; Frank v. Pepe, 186 Misc 2d 377, 380). The fact that an invoice was billed to another company is not dispositive as to whether defendant represented solely that entity or both that company and plaintiff.
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.