2nd Circuit Court

In Frenzied Free-for-All Judges Use Exploding Offers to Vie for Clerks; Efforts Start ‘At Birth’

When it comes to competing for law clerks, the rules are optional for a number of arbiters of the law in well-regarded courts. Vying to lock up the best and the brightest law students, some judges shamelessly violate the Sept. 15 deadline for starting the interview process, for instance, reports…

Sep 23, 2011 6:41 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Splits on Wiretap Suit; Judge Claims Lawyers Have ‘Fantasy of Persecution’

A federal appeals court split 6-6 Wednesday on whether to grant en banc review of a decision allowing lawyers, journalists and human rights advocates to challenge a federal wiretap law. The split decision (PDF) by the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals sheds light on divisions in the…

Sep 22, 2011 4:30 PM CDT

Poker Site Ponzi Scheme Paid $440M to Board, Celebrity Players, Other Owners, Feds Say in Suit

In a stunning follow-up to an earlier civil forfeiture and money-laundering complaint unsealed in April, federal prosecutors today accused owners and operators of the Full Tilt Poker website of running a massive Ponzi scheme. As board members and owners, including star celebrity players Christopher Ferguson and Howard Lederer, allegedly pocketed…

Sep 20, 2011 7:30 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Nixes Injunction 3 Days After Hearing, Lifts Ban on Pursuing $18B Award Against Chevron

After losing an environmental case in Ecuador in which $18 billion was awarded to the plaintiffs, Chevron Corp. filed a civil racketeering lawsuit in federal court in the United States. It contended that the lawyers for the plaintiffs conspired to fabricate evidence. Earlier this year, a federal judge overseeing the…

Sep 20, 2011 6:01 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Is Dubious re Claim That a Federal Judge Can Strike a Foreign Country’s $18B Judgment

It appears that the plaintiffs may be on the path to victory in a hard-fought international legal battle with Chevron Inc. over environmental damage done to the Ecuador rainforest by a predecessor oil company. During a hearing today, three judges of the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of…

Sep 16, 2011 9:23 PM CDT

Burger Lover Files Suit Against White Castle, Says Too-Small Booths Violate ADA

A longtime fan of White Castle burgers who weighs 290 pounds has filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan over the size of the booths in the fast-food chain’s restaurants. Martin Kessman, who works as a stockbroker and says he has been eating White Castle burgers in the Bronx since 1959,…

Sep 14, 2011 1:24 AM CDT

Rajaratnam Calls Requested 20 Years ‘Grotesquely Severe,’ Says Insider Trading Definition Not Clear

Interviewed by a probation officer for a presentence investigation report, a hedge fund co-founder recently convicted in the biggest insider-trading case in decades said he still isn’t clear on the concept of what is and isn’t permitted, reports Bloomberg. “In my own mind, the line between permissible ‘detective work’ and…

Sep 12, 2011 5:47 PM CDT

Federal Judge Sides with NJ Solo, Strikes NY Law Requiring In-State Office for Out-of-State Lawyers

A federal judge in Albany has agreed with a New Jersey solo practitioner that a New York law is unconstitutional. It requires out-of-state attorneys licensed to practice in New York to maintain an in-state office if they want to represent clients there. The state argued that the New York office…

Sep 9, 2011 10:09 PM CDT

Heirs of Miles Davis Sue Miles’ Cafe Owner, Who Is Also a Trumpet Player Known as Miles

A New York restaurateur who allegedly claims Miles Davis appeared to him in a dream, leading him to take the legendary jazz musician’s first name and open a cafe using that moniker, is now a defendant in a lawsuit. Brought by relatives who inherited from Davis’ estate, the Manhattan federal…

Aug 31, 2011 9:28 PM CDT

Inmate’s ‘Cop Out’ Jail Phone Message to Lawyer Wasn’t Privileged, 2nd Circuit Rules

A Spanish-speaking New York prison inmate found out the hard way that sending a message to his lawyer via his sister, on a recorded jailhouse phone, wasn’t a good idea. Joel Rodriguez had no reasonable expectation of confidentiality when he told her to tell his attorney that he wanted to…

Aug 25, 2011 8:17 PM CDT

Exonerated Marsh & McLennan Execs Sue Spitzer and Slate for Libel Over Ex-AG’s Column Comments

About a month after the felony antitrust convictions of two former Marsh & McLennan executives were thrown out last year, former New York attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer wrote a column in Slate. It defended his work on a 2004 case that resulted in an $850 million settlement by…

Aug 22, 2011 11:40 PM CDT

Lawyer Paid $32K for M&A Tips Gets 3 Years for Conduit Role in High-Profile Insider-Trading Scheme

A New York personal injury lawyer was sentenced today to a three-year federal prison term for serving as a conduit for at least two attorney tipsters then working at Ropes & Gray in a high-profile insider-trading scheme. Jason Goldfarb was paid $32,500 for his work in the illegal stock-trading scheme,…

Aug 19, 2011 6:23 PM CDT

2nd Cir. Backs Madoff Trustee: Victims of $20B Swindle May Get Principal Back, But Not Fake Profit

Many victims of the massive Ponzi scheme that Bernard Madoff operated under the guise of a profitable hedge fund got statements showing handsome investment returns via the basket of stocks supposedly being purchased on their behalf. But “Madoff never invested those customer funds. Instead, Madoff generated fictitious paper account statements…

Aug 16, 2011 8:07 PM CDT

2nd Cir. Upholds 10 of 12 Convictions for NY Criminal Defense Lawyer in Attempted Obstruction Case

A New York criminal defense lawyer is facing a 14-year federal prison sentence, after a federal appeals court on Friday affirmed (PDF) 10 of his 12 convictions in an attempted obstruction of justice case concerning a former client. Robert Simels also was convicted of conspiracy and bribery in 2009 after…

Aug 16, 2011 12:30 AM CDT

2nd Cir. OKs Minority New Haven Firefighter’s Disparate-Impact Suit, Despite Supremes’ Ricci Ruling

In an unusual 2009 decision, a divided U.S. Supreme Court not only vacated a lower court’s ruling that the city of New Haven, Conn., had a right to discard the results of a promotional test, out of concern that it was racially biased, but ordered the the city to certify…

Aug 15, 2011 11:48 PM CDT