New York

Is Uber ride-sharing app a price-fixing scheme? Federal judge OKs conspiracy suit against CEO

A federal judge gave a green light on Thursday to a lawsuit alleging that the head of Uber Technologies Inc. is involved in a price-fixing conspiracy with drivers who use the company’s ride-sharing smartphone application to find paying passengers. Co-founder and chief executive officer Travis Kalanick had sought to dismiss…

Apr 1, 2016 11:05 AM CDT

In first GM ignition-switch case to go to verdict, jury awards zip, saying defect didn’t cause crash

Both sides proclaimed victory Wednesday after the first jury verdict in a General Motors ignition-switch case. That’s because the jury, while finding a 2007 Saturn Sky unreasonably dangerous because of an ignition-switch defect, also found that the defect did not cause the plaintiff driver to lose control on an icy…

Mar 30, 2016 3:20 PM CDT

SEC brief supports fired in-house lawyer’s suit against Vanguard, says he qualifies as whistleblower

The federal government has intervened to file a brief in support of a former in-house lawyer’s wrongful termination suit against Vanguard Group. The mutual fund giant contends that plaintiff David Danon doesn’t qualify for whistleblower protection, because he only sought it after learning that he would be let go by…

Mar 29, 2016 3:15 PM CDT

Feds: Law grad at finance firm stole $25M, sought $70M in ‘brazen fraud’

A Harvard Law School graduate is facing federal fraud charges for allegedly stealing $25 million from investors and seeking $70 million more under false pretenses while working as an executive at a financial advisory firm. Andrew Caspersen, 39, is accused of duping a charitable foundation and a hedge fund employee…

Mar 28, 2016 3:00 PM CDT

Student admitted by mistake can’t compel law school to award LLM degree, appeals court says

A law student mistakenly admitted to a master’s program for foreign law students can’t compel the Touro College Jacob B. Fuchsberg Law Center to award him an LLM degree, a New York appeals court has ruled. The Appellate Division, First Department, ruled against LLM student Leodegario Salvador in a March…

Mar 28, 2016 5:45 AM CDT

Ex-lawyer gets weekend jail time for collecting $247K in disability payments while still practicing

A former New York bankruptcy lawyer who admittedly collected more than $247,000 in Social Security disability payments over a seven-year period, while continuing to practice law, has been sentenced to weekend jail time. Christopher Chadick, 63, was sentenced Thursday to six months of weekend jail time, from 6 p.m. Friday…

Mar 25, 2016 3:45 PM CDT

Manhattan federal judge known for groundbreaking e-discovery ruling is retiring from the bench

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of Manhattan has announced she is retiring from the bench to join a large New York City law firm as of counsel. Scheindlin, 69, told colleagues on Wednesday that she will join the firm to assist in client and pro bono matters, and to mentor…

Mar 24, 2016 8:11 AM CDT

Convicted of murder despite out-of-state vacation alibi, man is freed on DA’s motion after 20 years

A New York City man was freed from prison Wednesday, at the request of the Bronx district attorney’s office, after serving 20 years for a murder he says he didn’t commit. The DA’s office agreed to a new trial for Richard Rosario, who identified more than a dozen alibi witnesses…

Mar 23, 2016 12:35 PM CDT

Former Lehman CFO who once regretted ‘extreme’ focus on work writes of ‘happier’ life in new book

If she had her life to live over again, retired tax lawyer Erin Callan says she would try to do a better job of balancing her personal life with her work. But the saga of the former Lehman Brothers chief financial officer turned out better than might have been predicted…

Mar 22, 2016 1:05 PM CDT

Federal judge creates ‘certificate of rehabilitation’ for nurse he sentenced in 2003

A Brooklyn federal judge who was concerned about job obstacles for a nurse he sentenced in 2003 decided to create an alternative to expungement. In a March 7 order, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson said the nurse was entitled to a “federal certificate of rehabilitation” and he attached it to…

Mar 17, 2016 11:40 AM CDT

Judge nixes Title IX suit against Columbia U over ‘Mattress Performance’ linked to dorm-rape claim

He said the sex was consensual. She said she was the victim of a 2012 dormitory rape, when a consensual encounter changed into a forced sex act as he ignored her repeated “no.” Columbia University cleared him in a confidential proceeding, as it did in two other complaints brought by…

Mar 14, 2016 2:00 PM CDT

Lawyer faces federal fraud case in claimed $7M straw-purchaser auto loan scheme

A New Jersey lawyer is among four individuals facing federal charges in a claimed $7 million scheme to use 20 straw buyers to obtain personal auto loans for 200 vehicles that actually were leased by the defendants to livery drivers. Former Hoboken city councilman Christopher Campos, 39, faces bank and…

Mar 11, 2016 3:30 PM CST

Apparent cyberthieves used Bangladesh bank codes to get $100M from its Federal Reserve account

Apparent cyberthieves took advantage of a disconnect between the work week in New York and the work week in Bangladesh to steal $100 million from the account held by the country’s central bank at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. However, it could have been worse: Unusually large transactions…

Mar 11, 2016 2:50 PM CST

LA’s Liner firm opens NY office with former Dickstein lawyers

A 75-attorney Los Angeles law firm has opened an office in New York City, its first outside Southern California. Two insurance coverage lawyers who previously worked for now-defunct Dickstein Shapiro are the initial partners at the new Liner location in Manhattan, reports the New York Law Journal (sub. req.). Ten…

Mar 11, 2016 9:40 AM CST

DA’s office disavows 19th conviction in ongoing probe of old convictions; ex-inmate served 25 years

Andre Hatchett was on crutches on Feb. 18, 1991, recovering from bullet wounds to his neck and trachea when Neda Mae Carter was found dead in New York City. Her body had been moved into a cross-like position, and a man said he had witnessed a portion of the crime…

Mar 10, 2016 4:30 PM CST