New York

Monster Beverage Corp. settles copyright cases over Beastie Boys tunes

Monster Beverage Corp. has settled on undisclosed terms two related lawsuits that accused the company of using without permission excerpts from five Beastie Boys songs in a 4-minute video promotion of a Canadian snowboarding event, Reuters reports. The iconic hip-hop group, which does not license its music for advertising and…

Jan 15, 2016 2:55 PM CST

Goldman Sachs OKs $5B settlement of civil claims over toxic mortgage bonds

One of Wall Street’s best-known financial institutions has agreed to pay more than $5 billion to settle claims that it sold toxic bonds based on residential mortgages between 2005 and 2007, as the nation’s mortgage market was about to go into a meltdown. The agreement in principle by Goldman Sachs…

Jan 14, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Tagging woman in Facebook post violates no-contact order, judge rules

A court order barring a woman from contacting another woman by “electronic or any other means” prohibited the subject from tagging the protected woman in a Facebook post, a New York judge has ruled. Denying a motion to dismiss a criminal contempt case against Maria Gonzalez, acting Westchester County Supreme…

Jan 14, 2016 3:40 PM CST

Big Apple officials hope new ‘gun courts’ will reduce firearm violence

New York City officials on Tuesday announced new “gun courts” and a dedicated police unit that they hope will reduce firearm violence. To be launched initially in Brooklyn, which has the highest rate of such crimes, the Project Fast Track courts focused on gun possession cases could later expand to…

Jan 13, 2016 12:40 PM CST

Disbarred lawyer faces likely prison time after admitting theft of more than $1M from 2 clients

Disbarred by consent in 2010, a former New York lawyer is now facing likely prison time after admitting to stealing more than $1 million from two ex-clients. Janice Jessup, 68, pleaded guilty to grand larceny Monday in Nassau County Court, Newsday (sub. req.) and the Associated Press report. Prosecutors said…

Jan 12, 2016 2:15 PM CST

Trailblazing former New York judge Judith Kaye dies at 77

Judith Kaye, the first woman to lead the New York State Court of Appeals, has died. The cause of death for Kaye, 77, was not reported, according to the Times Union. Kaye led the state court for 15 years, according to the article, and stepped down due to mandatory retirement…

Jan 7, 2016 1:40 PM CST

SCOTUS same-sex marriage ruling did not make commitment ceremonies marriages, state court says

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage does not make commitment ceremonies into marriages under New York law, an appeals court there ruled Tuesday. According to the New York Law Journal, the state court system’s Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in Estate of Mauricio Leyton that Leyton’s 2002…

Jan 6, 2016 2:45 PM CST

Husband who raped and abused wife isn’t entitled to share of marital assets, court rules

A man convicted of raping his wife isn’t entitled to any marital assets in divorce because of his “egregious conduct,” a New York judge has ruled. Judge Jeffrey Sunshine ruled in the case of “Terrance T.” and “Alice M.” that Terrance’s conduct was the rare instance in which conduct can…

Jan 6, 2016 10:31 AM CST

Appeals court tosses suit against law firms that represented Ceglia in Facebook ownership claim

A New York appeals court has tossed a lawsuit that accused DLA Piper and two other law firms of malicious prosecution for representing a man who claimed a 2003 contract gave him a controlling interest in Facebook. The court ruled on behalf of the law firms DLA Piper, Milberg and…

Jan 4, 2016 11:06 AM CST

Lawyer who reviewed 13,000 documents in two months isn’t entitled to overtime pay, judge rules

A lawyer doing document review work for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan isn’t entitled to overtime pay because he was using legal judgment, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams of Manhattan ruled on Dec. 30 in the case of William Henig, the New York Law Journal…

Jan 4, 2016 8:06 AM CST

New York’s attorney general and law clinics aid entrepreneurs

New York City is wooing more tech startups to headquarter there with a new, free program that offers expert legal advice for establishing a legally sound organization.

Spearheaded by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the New York City Corporation Council, the program also gets help from two legal clinics and Fordham University.

Jan 1, 2016 1:20 AM CST

Lawyer gets client’s DWI charge tossed after discovering her rare affliction

Lawyer Joseph Marusak decided to investigate after his DWI client insisted she consumed only a few drinks on the day she registered a blood alcohol level that was four times the legal limit. Marusak, who practices law in Buffalo, New York, says he searched the Internet to see if there…

Dec 28, 2015 10:48 AM CST

Disbarred lawyer charged with stealing $3M from clients

A former New York lawyer was arrested by federal authorities on Thursday and charged with wire fraud for allegedly stealing some $3 million from clients over a seven-year period, starting in 2008. Stuart Schlesinger, 75, is charged with one count of wire fraud after allegedly lying to eight clients in…

Dec 21, 2015 1:40 PM CST

University sues pizza maker for borrowing from its name

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, has sued a local pizza restaurant for calling its cooking classes the Rensselaer Pizza Institute. The suit claims the restaurant, Pizza DaVinci, is using university trademarks in a way that is likely to confuse people who may conclude the pizza maker is…

Dec 21, 2015 8:07 AM CST

Doctor may owe third party for not warning patient about drugs’ effects, top state court says

Carving an exception into a general rule that hospitals and doctors owe a duty of care only to their patients, the top appeals court in New York has OK’d a third-party lawsuit against a physician and hospital over an auto accident. School bus driver Edwin Davis, whose bus was allegedly…

Dec 17, 2015 2:35 PM CST