In a rare ruling, a New York appeals court on Tuesday sanctioned an attorney in a legal malpractice case, finding he repeatedly pursued a claim despite clear evidence from the record that it was false.

The Appellate Division, First Department, found that Andrew Lavoott Bluestone, whose firm regularly pursues legal malpractice cases, “continued to repeat a knowingly false claim in what could only be described as a purposeful attempt to mislead this court, and pursued claims which were completely without merit in law or fact.”

The First Department has rarely imposed sanctions against attorneys.