2nd Circuit Court

ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform

Life in a women’s prison definitely has its downside in a popular Netflix show, Orange is the New Black. But the reality is much worse, contend advocates for prison reform. Using the show as a springboard, they have launched a social media campaign this week, at the outset of the…

Jun 11, 2014 9:25 PM CDT

2nd Circuit OKs searchable book database, calls copying entire volumes for this purpose fair use

Copying entire books in order to create a searchable database of millions of volumes is a “quintessentially transformative use,” a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. Siding with a group of universities sued by authors alleging infringement, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the full-text database…

Jun 10, 2014 10:25 PM CDT

A sweet federal court ruling for Mister Softee owners doesn’t prevent Master Softee ice cream sales

For the past decade, attorney Jeff Zucker says he has never lost a case on behalf of a client whose family began selling ice cream in 1956 from what is now an 18-state fleet of some 600 Mister Softee trucks. And, so far, his latest litigation, against a former franchisee…

Jun 10, 2014 2:55 PM CDT

Federal jury awards $4.7M to Yemeni-born man named Osama who was taunted and punched at work

A manager of a women’s clothing store in Brooklyn, New York, testified that a security guard was just teasing when he referred to a Yemeni-born stock clerk named Osama Saleh as “bin Laden” and a terrorist, in an apparent reference to the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on…

Jun 9, 2014 5:05 PM CDT

Info in drone-strike memo would harm national security if released, US says in filing

The U.S. government, fearful of a national security breach, is seeking to redact more information before releasing a document laying out its legal reasoning for drone killings of Americans overseas who are suspected of terrorism, the Associated Press reports. The filing (PDF) late Thursday at the New York-based 2nd U.S.…

Jun 6, 2014 8:20 PM CDT

GM cites ‘pattern of incompetence,’ fires 15 including legal execs, will pay ignition-switch victims

An internal probe of General Motors found “a pattern of incompetence and neglect” but no intentional cover-up of ignition-switch issues that resulted in a massive vehicle recall this year after a decade of problems including at least 13 fatal accidents. Fifteen employees were fired as a result of the investigation…

Jun 5, 2014 3:30 PM CDT

Judge’s rejection of SEC’s $285 million settlement with Citigroup voided by 2nd Circuit

In a carefully wrought and long-awaited rebuke to U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who for several years has commanded cases and bully pulpits for sharp criticisms of government’s failure to pursue those responsible for huge financial scandals, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that…

Jun 4, 2014 9:13 PM CDT

Paleontologist, ‘a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils,’ gets time for $1M dinosaur sale

A paleontologist described by a federal prosecutor as “a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils” was sentenced to three months in prison on Tuesday for his role in plotting to smuggle dinosaur bones and other remains from Mongolia. Eric Prokopi, 39, pleaded guilty in 2012 to three felony counts related…

Jun 4, 2014 4:50 PM CDT

Top NY court to hear arguments on unfinished-business claims concerning failed law firms

When a law firm fails, is its unfinished business property that can be distributed by a bankruptcy trustee? That is the question on which New York’s highest court will hear arguments Wednesday, at the request of a federal appeals court, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. After two federal…

Jun 2, 2014 4:50 PM CDT

Trust accounts hike law practice costs, blogger says | Are law firm homepage views really declining?

Using trust accounts to store advance fees from clients is a burden on practitioners and less of a protection for clients than if they had paid by credit card, Washington, D.C., solo Carolyn Elefant writes at My Shingle. “Credit cards and digital payments offer better protection against ne’er do well…

May 30, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Facing decades in prison, computer hacker ‘Sabu’ gets time served due to cooperation with feds

A prolific corporate and government computer hacker known as “Sabu” could have gotten decades in prison for attacks he orchestrated against targets including credit card issuers, the U.S. Senate and other government entities worldwide. However, Hector Xavier Monsegur was sentenced Tuesday to time served after cooperating with the feds and…

May 27, 2014 5:10 PM CDT

Bankuptcy trustee seeks $22M from 9 former Dewey partners in compensation clawback suits

Saying that Dewey & LeBoeuf was insolvent more than three years prior to its record-breaking bankruptcy in May of 2012, a trustee is seeking to claw back $22 million in compensation paid to nine former international partners of the now-shuttered megafirm. Lawsuits filed Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan…

May 15, 2014 7:50 PM CDT

Patton Boggs withdraws from hard-fought Chevron environmental case, will pay company $15M

In the latest development in a massive Ecuador environmental case that has put lawyers who won a $9.5 billion verdict for the plaintiffs under unusual pressure, Patton Boggs has agreed to withdraw from the case and pay $15 million to Chevron Corp. Although Patton Boggs was not lead counsel in…

May 7, 2014 4:35 PM CDT

Death certificate posted on door does not deter police from raids seeking dead man, suit says

James Jordan Sr. has been dead since 2006. But even though his death certificate is taped to the front door of his widow’s apartment in Brooklyn, the New York City Police Department keeps raiding it looking for him, a federal lawsuit alleges. There have been four such raids so far…

May 6, 2014 8:05 PM CDT

2 lawyers among 6 charged in $30M mortgage fraud conspiracy

Two lawyers are among six defendants federally charged in what authorities say was a $30 million mortgage fraud carried out in the New York City area between 2003 and 2008. All face a single count of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, Newsday reports. The charge carries a maximum prison term…

May 6, 2014 6:50 PM CDT