Opinion
October 27, 1997
Appeal Supreme Court, Queens County (Goldstein, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
For the defendants in a legal malpractice case to succeed on a motion for summary judgment, they must present evidence in admissible form establishing that the plaintiff is unable to prove one of the three essential elements of a malpractice cause of action ( see, Greene v. Payne, Wood Littlejohn, 197 A.D.2d 664; see also, Platt v. Portnoy, 220 A.D.2d 652; Andrews Beverage Distrib. v. Stern, 215 A.D.2d 706; L.I.C. Commercial Corp. v Rosenthal, 202 A.D.2d 644). Here, the respondents made a prima facie showing that the plaintiff could not prove that but for any negligence he would have prevailed in the underlying action, and the plaintiff failed to submit any admissible evidence to the contrary. Thus, the trial court properly granted summary judgment to the defendants.
O'Brien, J.P., Santucci, Joy and Altman, JJ., concur.