New York

Lawyer takes plea in $279M no-fault auto insurance fraud case

One of three lawyers charged in what authorities have described as a record-breaking $279 million New York auto insurance fraud scheme has taken a plea. Sol Naimark, 54, pleaded guilty last week in federal court in Manhattan to conspiracy to commit health fraud and faces up to 20 years when…

Mar 19, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Secret passenger audio recordings are now playing in a NY cab; were they obtained legally?

A New York artist who drives a cab is raising some eyebrows and legal questions with his latest art project. Daniel Wilson secretly recorded his passengers’ conversations and assembled the audio highlights into a 37-minute collage that he played in the back of his cab during New York’s Armory Arts…

Mar 18, 2013 12:04 PM CDT

Colleagues mourn NY courts lawyer who died in suicide leap with son

Colleagues of a Manhattan courts employee who died Wednesday in an apparent suicide expressed sadness and surprise. Cynthia Wachenheim, 44, died Wednesday after jumping from her eighth-floor apartment window in Harlem with her 10-month-old son, report the New York Times, the New York Law Journal, the Associated Press and the…

Mar 15, 2013 6:35 PM CDT

New York City passes jobless discrimination law authorizing lawsuits for violations

Job seekers in New York City who are passed over because they are unemployed will be able to sue for discrimination under a new law passed over the mayor’s veto. New York City is among four jurisdictions that have passed laws targeting discrimination against the unemployed, the Associated Press reports.…

Mar 15, 2013 11:00 AM CDT

Ex-associate files sexual harassment suit against Faruqi & Faruqi firm and prominent partner

Updated: A former associate has filed a federal lawsuit against a prominent plaintiffs class action lawyer and his New York-based law firm, contending that the partner sexually harassed her and the firm did nothing to stop his inappropriate behavior when she complained. Plaintiff Alexandra Marchuk says in the suit that…

Mar 14, 2013 5:30 PM CDT

Paul Hastings lawyer takes up criminal justice issues after learning of 1980 murder in his home

Paul Hastings partner Scott Saks has lived in two New York homes where murders occurred. The first, in Chappaqua, was the site of an apparent mob hit in the 1900s, Saks tells the New York Law Journal. The second, Saks’ present home in Westchester, was the location where a retired…

Mar 14, 2013 11:00 AM CDT

FTC can serve foreign defendants via Facebook, federal judge rules

The Hague Service Convention doesn’t expressly authorize service on foreign defendants by email or social media accounts. But, saying that a U.S. court has the power under the treaty and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to approve supplemental means of service, a federal judge in Manhattan has OK’d a…

Mar 13, 2013 4:58 PM CDT

Judge nixes NYC ban on big, sugary drink sales, calling it ‘arbitrary and capricious’

A state-court judge has struck down a New York City program that was to go into effect on Tuesday and would have banned some Big Apple businesses, including restaurants and theaters, from selling sugary drinks like soda pop in supersize containers. In a blow to the administration of Mayor Michael…

Mar 11, 2013 7:53 PM CDT

‘Landmark’ NY appeals court ruling voids prenup due to millionaire’s oral promises to wife-to-be

In what lawyers are calling a landmark ruling, a New York appeals court has upheld a Long Island judge’s decision to void an prenuptial agreement that the wife of a millionaire says she was tricked into signing by false promises made by her husband-to-be, days before the wedding. Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis…

Mar 11, 2013 7:20 PM CDT

Joseph Kelner, attorney who sued sitting Ohio governor over Kent State slayings, is dead at 98

Joseph Kelner, a personal injury attorney best known for the litigation battle he fought, and arguably won, over an iconic Vietnam War protest at Kent State University, has died. He was 98 years old. A former president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the American Trial Lawyers…

Mar 8, 2013 7:55 PM CST

Bin Laden ‘consigliere’ arraigned in federal court, accused in claimed conspiracy to kill Americans

The son-in-law of Osama bin Laden has been criminally charged in federal court in New York City, accused of participating in a conspiracy to kill Americans. Public details of exactly what Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is accused of doing are elusive, according to the New York Times (reg. req.). However, it…

Mar 8, 2013 6:09 PM CST

Bin Laden spokesman who talked of 9/11 attacks on video extradited to US

A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, who is accused of playing a major role in al-Qaida as a spokesman and propagandist, has reportedly been captured abroad and extradited to the U.S. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is in federal custody in New York City and is expected to appear there at a…

Mar 7, 2013 7:45 PM CST

Disabled man is cited for disturbing the peace by laughing too loudly

A disabled man in Rockville Centre, N.Y., says he has learned to laugh off a neighbor’s taunts about his neurological impairments. But that created a new problem for Robert Schiavelli, 42, who has been issued two summonses for laughing too loudly in the Long Island home he shares with his…

Mar 7, 2013 3:55 PM CST

Paul Hastings, 2 partners to pay $1.6M to settle Dewey unfinished business claim

Two former partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf, along with the law firm at which they now practice, Paul Hastings, have agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to settle a claim over unfinished Dewey business they took with them to their new jobs. A filing Monday in New York says Paul…

Mar 6, 2013 5:30 PM CST

NYC cops keep tabs on potential teen robbers with frequent interaction and fake Facebook profiles

New York City police are trying to dissuade potential teen robbers with a novel approach that involves early intervention and monitoring of social media. The program targets juveniles arrested for robbery in East Harlem and the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, the New York Times reports. Police figure out each teen’s…

Mar 5, 2013 12:00 PM CST