Both sides denied sanctions in Boies Schiller sex-trafficking suit
Neither Boies Schiller Flexner nor the lawyers representing its legal opponents are entitled to sanctions in a sex-trafficking case, a federal judge in New York City has ruled. (Image from Shutterstock)
Neither Boies Schiller Flexner nor the lawyers representing its legal opponents are entitled to sanctions in a sex-trafficking case, a federal judge in New York City has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York denied sanctions motions filed by both sides in an order posted Tuesday evening, Law360 reports.
Subramanian ruled in a proposed class action lawsuit filed by Boies Schiller on behalf of sex-trafficking victims against a former lawyer and former accountant for Jeffrey Epstein, a multimillionaire financier and convicted sex-offender who hanged himself in prison.
Boies Schiller chairman David Boies and law firm co-managing partner Sigrid McCawley represented the plaintiffs, who claimed that the suit defendants facilitated sex trafficking by Epstein.
The defendants, lawyer Darren K. Indyke and accountant Richard D. Kahn, were first to seek sanctions. They argued in an April 8 motion that the class action should not have been filed because the lead plaintiff and other victims had signed “ironclad” liability releases in return for “massive monetary payouts.”
Boies and McCawley filed their own sanctions motion April 19, arguing that the April 8 sanctions motion “is itself deserving of sanctions.” They claimed that the first motion was “full of misstatements that are patently unreasonable.”
Boies and McCawley argued that Indyke and Kahn had direct involvement in facilitating Epstein’s sex crimes, and that wasn’t known when the releases were signed.
Indyke and Kahn are represented by Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
Subramanian did not explain his reasons for denying sanctions in the brief order.
