New York

NY Panhandler Case Now a Class Action

A federal judge in New York City has certified as a class action a case brought on behalf of some 5,000 to 10,000 panhandlers allegedly arrested or forced off the streets for begging. Despite a 1992 federal court decision that the state loitering law being applied was unconstitutional–and an appeals…

Jul 25, 2007 7:57 PM CDT

Cost to See Kids: $2.5 M or More in NYC

Why would a family pay nearly $2.5 million to buy a needs-work apartment in New York City when they could live in a larger, nicer, single-family home with a yard in the suburbs? Because it gives dad–or, sometimes, mom or both parents–a chance to see the kids. A rapidly increasing…

Jul 25, 2007 12:04 AM CDT

N.Y. AG: Governor’s Office, Police in Plot

Updated: Top aides to New York’s Democratic governor have been suspended or reassigned, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer has apologized, in the wake of a scathing report by the state’s attorney general finding that Spitzer aides and state police conspired against the state senate’s Republican majority leader. “No one was accused…

Jul 24, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

Broker Wins $1.6 M in Merrill Arbitration

An NASD securities arbitration panel has awarded $1.6 million to a broker of Iranian descent, saying that Merrill Lynch & Co. first set him up to be fired and then lied about him in an industry regulatory form, making him unemployable. The panel issued an unusually detailed eight-page decision explaining…

Jul 24, 2007 12:30 AM CDT

Guyana Press Chat Breaks ‘Local’ Rule

A lawyer who spoke to reporters in Guyana about a New York case he was handling broke a local rule barring lawyers from making comments that could interfere with a trial, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, of the Eastern District of New York, found…

Jul 23, 2007 4:14 PM CDT

NY Court Bars Broadcast of Teen’s Name

At least for now, a New York appellate court has foiled an attempt to publish the name of a then-teenage girl who was allegedly sexually abused by an actor backstage after a Broadway show, to solicit information about others she might have accused in the past. A state appeals court…

Jul 20, 2007 11:04 PM CDT

Solo’s Suits ‘Vexatious,’ Judge Says

A Manhattan solo practitioner says an order barring her from filing new lawsuits on her own behalf is part of a judicial conspiracy against her. Eleanor Capogrosso will have to get advance permission if she wants to file any more suits, after filing 16 of them on her own behalf,…

Jul 19, 2007 3:58 PM CDT

KPMG Lawyers: Unchain Us from Clients!

Representing a high-profile client in a major white-collar case can be both a blessing and a curse for a criminal defense attorney. Such cases can bring in big bucks and offer lots of free publicity. But they can also result in enormous unpaid legal bills. That nightmare scenario is apparently…

Jul 18, 2007 10:46 PM CDT

Judge Resigns in Conduct Probe

A New York judge has resigned in the wake of allegations that he intervened with police on behalf of his girlfriend and tried to get authorities to investigate her estranged husband. Justice Lawrence Horowitz signed a stipulation saying he was unable to defend against disciplinary charges and would not serve…

Jul 18, 2007 1:59 PM CDT

Partner Musical Chairs: 12 Switch Seats

A boom in legal business for many of the nation’s big firms may be prompting a musical chairs game among their partners. At least a dozen new partners with a New York City connection have recently made lateral moves, most of them from partnerships at other well-known firms. Among them:…

Jul 18, 2007 12:21 AM CDT

Murderer Loses, Jurors Win Wedding

A murder trial led to matrimony for two Queens, N.Y., jurors who met while sitting on the same jury panel and are to be married next month by the presiding judge in the case. Given all the time that panel members spend together—while under strict instructions to say nothing about…

Jul 17, 2007 12:30 AM CDT

Cell Phone Calls Can Make, Break Cases

When Paul Cortez was tried for the murder of the stripper he had been dating, there was an unexpected witness against the New York actor—his cell phone. Records showed he had called her more than a dozen times in the two hours before her death, and then never again. Plus,…

Jul 16, 2007 9:33 PM CDT

NY Lawyer: Lap Dances, No Partnership

Some partners at New York’s Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz had more on their minds than law practice, a former colleague claims in a recent sex discrimination suit. And that led to an unfair work set-up, where secretarial lap dances had more of an impact in the Madison Avenue…

Jul 16, 2007 5:19 PM CDT

McGuireWoods Sued Over Fees

McGuireWoods is defending a malpractice lawsuit by a New York company that claims it paid too much in legal fees in a civil racketeering case that ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Ideal Steel Supply Corp. says the firm hiked its rates without permission and drove up fees by failing…

Jul 16, 2007 12:43 PM CDT

Lawyer: 10 Reasons Why Workers Sue

It is black-letter law that employers must pay hourly workers for all of their time. But not doing so is the No. 1 reason why companies are sued by their employees, according to a Long Island, N.Y., attorney. A number of other items on Robert Lipton’s Top 10 list of…

Jul 12, 2007 6:18 PM CDT