New York

Goldman Sachs must pay legal bills for programmer it accused in code-theft case, federal judge rules

Goldman Sachs Group accused its former computer programmer Sergey Aleynikov of stealing its confidential source code. Now the company must pay his legal bills, a federal judge in Newark, N.J., has ruled. “Immediate advancement of fees is required, subject only to an unsecured undertaking to repay them if the applicant…

Oct 24, 2013 3:30 PM CDT

Black student says he was detained for buying a $349 belt at upscale store, files civil rights suit

Updated: A black engineering student who says he was handcuffed and taken in for questioning by police after purchasing a $349 belt at a well-known New York City store has filed a civil rights suit. Trayon Christian, now 19, contends in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit that he was targeted…

Oct 22, 2013 11:14 PM CDT

Lawyer who flipped the bird at defendant is removed as juror; was cab conflict the reason?

A lawyer who is a partner at an elite Manhattan law firm has been removed as a juror in a New York fraud case, but flipping the bird at the defendant is apparently not the reason for her dismissal. The lawyer was dismissed on Friday, apparently because she read a…

Oct 22, 2013 11:48 AM CDT

Ex-lawyer indicted, accused of using attorney status to dupe ‘investors’ in $4M scheme

A former New York real estate lawyer faces a felony case there after allegedly bilking would-be investors of $4 million, using her status as an attorney to help persuade them that the scheme was legitimate. Alice Belmonte, 47, is also accused of writing some $6 million in bad checks, reports…

Oct 18, 2013 3:45 PM CDT

Juror who flipped the bird at defendant is partner at elite law firm; will she stay on jury?

Updated: A federal judge is considering whether to boot a juror from a high-profile corruption trial after she flipped the bird at someone she thought was stealing her taxi—one of the defendants in the case. The juror is a lawyer, report the New York Times and the New York Daily…

Oct 17, 2013 12:08 PM CDT

Racketeering case filed by Chevron against lawyer who won $18B enviro award goes to trial

Having won an $18 billion environmental judgment against a deep-pockets corporate defendant after nearly two decades of litigation, attorney Steven Donziger, one might think, would be living high on the hog. Instead, the Harvard Law School graduate is a defendant in a civil racketeering trial brought by Chevron Corp. Trial…

Oct 16, 2013 7:10 PM CDT

2 rabbis among 10 charged in claimed kidnap-and-torture plot to force religious divorces

For years, there have been stories that men in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in New York City were sometimes kidnapped or beaten to persuade them to provide the required permission for their wives to obtain a religious divorce. More than a decade ago, a Brooklyn rabbi sued another rabbi, claiming that…

Oct 11, 2013 5:20 PM CDT

Can drivers be so drunk that they can’t exhibit depraved indifference? New York high court to decide

Three New York drivers convicted of second-degree murder in auto accidents claim they were so impaired that they didn’t have the necessary state of mind required by the law. New York’s highest court considered the issue in oral arguments on Tuesday, the New York Times reports. The issue, the story…

Oct 10, 2013 11:35 AM CDT

Feds arrest 8 more in Silk Road case, say others in claimed $1.2B scheme should be ‘very nervous’

After seizing the Silk Road website allegedly used to arrange some $1.2 billion in illegal drug sales and arresting its alleged operator, the feds have not slowed down. With the help of authorities in the United Kingdom and Sweden, another eight individuals have been arrested and more are expected to…

Oct 8, 2013 8:25 PM CDT

Faulty jury instructions mean new murder trial for man who said he was assisting a suicide

A state appeals court has overturned the second-degree murder conviction of a New York man because the jury was improperly instructed on the assisted suicide defense to murder. Kenneth Minor is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence for the 2009 murder of a Long Island man whom Minor said had enlisted his…

Oct 4, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Some of New York’s top law schools see drops in applications

Even the nation’s fourth-ranked law school is seeing a drop in applications. Columbia Law School has seen applications drop 27 percent since 2008 and 12 percent since last year, the Careerist reports, summarizing this story (sub. req.) in the New York Law Journal. Columbia tied for fourth place in the…

Oct 4, 2013 4:59 PM CDT

Judge testifies against former court intern, calls witness stand ‘a different experience’

A New York judge was initially willing to let Christopher Ransom observe her courtroom one day a week last year. But, put off by what she described as his odd behavior–and her discovery that he was not actually enrolled in school as he had claimed–Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango soon…

Oct 4, 2013 3:50 PM CDT

Which federal court employees are essential? At least two courts say they all are

Each federal court is making its own plans for operations after the money runs out, and differences are already beginning to emerge. The federal courts have enough money to continue operations for 10 days after the government shutdown. What happens after that? Many courts will likely send some employees home…

Oct 4, 2013 1:13 PM CDT

‘Silk Road’ chief charged in drug case; feds say site did $1.2B in illegal Bitcoin-funded business

A California man has been arrested at a San Francisco public library, based on a federal criminal complaint stating that he masterminded and operated an underground “Silk Road” website that arranged some $1.2 billion in illegal Bitcoin-funded transactions over a period of a little more than two years. Many transactions…

Oct 2, 2013 9:55 PM CDT

Biker may be paralyzed after being struck by panicked motorist; should driver be charged?

Two bikers have been charged in a confrontation with an SUV driver who apparently panicked after being swarmed by stunt motorcycle riders in New York who damaged his car. The SUV driver sped away and hit another biker, Edwin Mieses Jr., who is now “forever, forever paralyzed,” his wife told…

Oct 2, 2013 1:07 PM CDT