2nd Circuit Court

GM seeks court ruling it is protected from ignition-switch suits under bankruptcy law

Amidst a recall of at least 2.6 million vehicles over ignition-switch issues and a growing number of would-be class actions claiming that company officials knew of defects for years, General Motors is seeking a freeze on the litigation and a court ruling that it is protected from liability by bankruptcy…

Apr 16, 2014 6:15 PM CDT

2nd Circuit asks top NY court to explain minimum needed to satisfy in-state law office requirement

In the latest development in a New Jersey attorney’s challenge to a New York law requiring the state’s practitioners to maintain law offices there, a federal appeals court has asked New York state’s top court for input. Specifically, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is asking the…

Apr 10, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

Attorney accused of stealing nearly $30M before his suicide; law firm bankruptcy has recovered $85K

Before he apparently jumped to his death from the roof of his Long Island, N.Y., office in 2010, attorney Jay Korn stole nearly $30 million from clients and other would-be real estate investors in a Ponzi scheme, investigators say. So far, $85,000 has been collected on their behalf in the…

Apr 9, 2014 6:25 PM CDT

Civil rights suit by outside counsel over city’s unpaid legal bill is OK’d by federal judge

A Connecticut lawyer known for her litigation against the city of Bridgeport and its school district is pursuing a new claim on her own behalf. Josephine Miller says in a federal lawsuit that the city attorney violated her civil rights by paying a white attorney who served as outside counsel…

Apr 9, 2014 5:20 PM CDT

‘Rothko’ painting bought for $7.2M was a fake painted in a garage, purchaser says in lawsuit

A Las Vegas casino operator who says he paid $7.2 million for a work of art he was assured had been painted by famed abstract expressionist Mark Rothko is now suing to try to get his money back. Frank J. Fertitta III contends in his Tuesday filing that the untitled…

Apr 2, 2014 11:10 PM CDT

Jury acquits 2 lawyers and developer in federal housing kickback case

A real estate developer and two lawyers who served as his partners were acquitted Tuesday by a federal jury in Brooklyn on charges that they had participated in a kickback scheme that involved a top New York City housing official. The former housing official testified he had received about $2.5…

Apr 2, 2014 5:25 PM CDT

Law student suit says NYC cops handcuffed him when he questioned them during a lunch break

A law student got some life lessons from two New York City police officers when he questioned them during a lunch break about why they had parked illegally while noshing at a Brooklyn food truck. Tzvi Richt says the two at first tried to discourage him from continuing to ask…

Mar 31, 2014 11:35 PM CDT

Chevron can sue Patton Boggs over law firm effort to collect $9.5B verdict, federal judge rules

In the latest salvo in a hard-fought international environmental case, a federal judge in New York has OK’d a request by Chevron Corp. to sue a law firm representing the oil company’s opponent in its efforts to collect a $9.5 billion judgment awarded by a court in Ecuador. Although Patton…

Mar 31, 2014 9:24 PM CDT

Jury convicts 5 Madoff staffers; accountant is now last remaining defendant in $17.5B scheme

After the conviction Monday of five employees who helped Bernard L. Madoff perpetrate a massive Ponzi scheme under the guise of a hedge fund, only one defendant still remains to be tried in a criminal case linked to the $17.5 billion swindle. He is Paul Konigsberg, 77, an outside accountant…

Mar 26, 2014 6:55 PM CDT

Workers sue McDonald’s in three states over claimed ‘stolen wages,’ seek class-action status

Already under fire from proponents of higher pay for fast-food workers, McDonald’s was the subject of a litigation attack this week that contends the chain and some of its franchise owners have underpaid workers in violation of wage-and-hour laws. Seven lawsuits filed in three states allege that the defendants denied…

Mar 13, 2014 6:45 PM CDT

TV’s Judge Judy files first lawsuit, says law firm used her name and photo in ads without her OK

Famed television judge Judith Scheindlin says she has never filed a lawsuit before. But “Judge Judy” said she felt she had no choice but to do so when a Connecticut law firm used her name and photo on television and Internet advertising despite her long-standing decision not to endorse products…

Mar 12, 2014 9:34 PM CDT

2nd Circuit says judge abused discretion by denying attorney fees in ERISA case

A federal appeals court says a district court abused its discretion by denying attorney fees in an Employment Retirement Income Security Act case in which an insurance company was found to have been arbitrary and capricious in refusing benefits to the plaintiff, John Donachie. Liberty Life Insurance “ignored substantial evidence…

Mar 12, 2014 8:55 PM CDT

SCOTUS to decide deadline issue in suit over losses in mortgage-backed securities

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a pension system met the time limit to pursue claims against investment banks that underwrote mortgage-backed securities. The Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi argues it met the three-year deadline because it would have been a class member in a would-be…

Mar 10, 2014 5:01 PM CDT

Federal judge rules for Chevron in civil-racketeer case, bans collection of $9B enviro award in US

In the latest blow to the plaintiffs and their lawyers in hard-fought litigation against Chevron Corp. over environmental damage in Ecuador, a federal district court judge in New York has issued a blistering ruling in an unusual civil racketeering case. It blocks their ability to collect, here in the U.S.,…

Mar 4, 2014 9:41 PM CST

Man sues moistened-wipes makers over plumbing bills; defendant stands by product’s ‘flushability’

A New York dentist apparently missed news reports that so-called flushable wipes are responsible for massive “fatberg” formations in a number of municipal sewer systems. However, Dr. Joseph Kurtz is now seeking redress in federal court in Brooklyn, contending that manufacturers’ false claims that moistened wipes can be safely flushed…

Mar 4, 2014 7:35 PM CST