2nd Circuit Court

Prosecutor Calls Courthouse Pamphleteer’s Message a ‘Significant Threat’ in Jury Nullification Case

Pamphlets distributed by an 80-year-old retired chemistry professor outside a federal courthouse that inform passers-by about jury nullification do not represent a serious threat to the integrity of the justice system, a public defender this week told a federal judge in Manhattan. But U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood disagreed, citing…

Mar 22, 2012 9:32 PM CDT

Breast-Feeding Woman Booted from Plane Wins Secret Delta Settlement, 2 Other Carriers to Pay $20K

A New Mexico woman who said she was ordered off a Delta Connections flight in Vermont in 2006 after she refused an offended flight attendant’s demand to cover herself with an airline blanket has settled her civil rights case over the incident. According to Emily Gillette, who is now 32,…

Mar 16, 2012 9:25 PM CDT

Federal Judge Nixes Jacoby & Meyers Challenge to Non-Lawyer Firm Ownership, Cites Lack of Standing

Saying that Jacoby & Meyers has no standing to challenge a New York legal ethics rule against non-attorney ownership of law firms because the well-known personal injury firm has not been harmed by the rule, a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday threw out the firm’s lawsuit, Reuters reports. “The…

Mar 9, 2012 3:05 PM CST

Kelley Drye and EEOC May Be Near Settlement of Partner Age-Discrimination Case

A New York law firm may be close to a settlement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in an age-discrimination case focused on an 81-year-old partner. A settlement conference is scheduled Friday in federal court in Manhattan, although terms of any potential pact aren’t known, reports the Wall Street…

Mar 7, 2012 11:08 PM CST

2nd Circuit Nixes Confusing Disclaimer Required of NY Attorneys Advertising Specialist Certification

A New York personal injury lawyer appearing pro se has notched a victory in a battle against the state attorney grievance committee, persuading a federal appeals court that an advertising ethics rule upheld by lower court rulings is vague and unduly restrictive. J. Michael Hayes of Buffalo had repeatedly been…

Mar 5, 2012 10:26 PM CST

3 Lawyers Among 36 Charged in ‘Obscenely Profitable’ $279M Auto Insurance Fraud Case

Three New York lawyers are among 36 defendants, including 10 doctors, charged in a $279 million alleged auto insurance fraud ring described by one FBI official as “obscenely profitable.” Attorneys Matthew Conroy, 42; Maria Diglio, 47; and Sol Naimark, 53, are charged in federal court in Manhattan with conspiracy to…

Mar 1, 2012 7:52 PM CST

Former SEC General Counsel OKs $556K Bankruptcy Trustee Pact re Mom’s Estate Payout from Madoff Fund

A former general counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to settle, along with his brothers, for $556,017 a claim brought by the trustee overseeing the resolution of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme over an inheritance the siblings received from their mother. The agreed payout by David…

Feb 28, 2012 5:50 PM CST

Artist Held in Contempt for Lying, Now Admits Basing Iconic Poster of Barack Obama on AP Photo

Shepard Fairey, a Los Angeles artist whose red, white and blue “Hope” poster of Barack Obama became iconic during the 2008 presidential campaign, has admitted that he initially lied to a federal court about the Associated Press photograph on which the poster, he now agrees, was based. He pleaded guilty…

Feb 27, 2012 10:04 PM CST

Naked Cowboy’s Legal Suit Over CBS Soap Opera Character Is Found Lacking

A federal judge in Manhattan has reviewed a legal suit brought by a Times Square entertainer known as the Naked Cowboy and found it lacking. Robert John Burck had contended that CBS Corp. stole his shtick by including a similarly unclad character strumming a guitar in a Nov. 1, 2010…

Feb 24, 2012 6:35 PM CST

Phone Messages for Gov’t Lawyers Create New Trouble for Indicted Researcher Who Refused to Wear Wire

Held in a Portland, Ore., jail after being arrested last week in a Manhattan insider-trading case, a research analyst who previously made headlines by publicly refusing to wear a government wire while he was under investigation is in hot water again. John Kinnucan, 54, is having trouble winning his release…

Feb 23, 2012 6:08 PM CST

Research Analyst Who Publicly Refused to Wear FBI Wire Is Arrested in Insider Trading Case

A research analyst who made headlines in 2010 when he emailed clients to say he’d refused to wear a wire after being requested to do so by FBI agents for a national insider-trading probe was arrested yesterday at his Portland, Ore., home. John Kinnucan, 54, who founded Broadband Research LLC,…

Feb 17, 2012 9:20 PM CST

2nd Circuit Axes Espionage Conviction of Goldman Sachs Programmer Who Took Source Code to New Job

Apparently deciding that federal prosecutors overreached by charging a former Goldman Sachs Group computer programmer under a commercial espionage statute for taking source code he developed there with him to a new job, a federal appeals court in Manhattan has not only reversed the criminal conviction of Sergey Aleynikov but…

Feb 17, 2012 7:24 PM CST

Is Judge Peck the First to Require a Predictive Coding Protocol for Automated Doc Review?

An unusual decision by a federal magistrate judge to require a so-called predictive coding protocol for automated e-discovery in an employment discrimination class action is both good news and bad news for young attorneys. The bad news: A number of their jobs could be at risk, if what may be…

Feb 14, 2012 9:24 PM CST

Feds File Fair-Housing Suit Against NY Co-Op Over Its Refusal to Allow Mini Schnauzer ‘Comfort Dog’

A federal prosecutor has filed suit against a New York housing co-operative, contending that it violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to allow a miniature schnauzer “comfort dog” as a reasonable accommodation for a resident’s disabilities despite a no-pets policy. Sandra Biegel died in 2007 at age 74, a…

Feb 14, 2012 8:35 PM CST

Federal Judge Resigns to Form New Boutique with Former White & Case Colleagues

A federal district judge in New York is leaving the bench to form a Manhattan litigation boutique with two former colleagues from White & Case. In addition to Richard J. Holwell, Michael Shuster and Daniel Goldberg are the name partners of Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, which opened its doors today…

Feb 7, 2012 7:01 PM CST