2nd Circuit Court

US Judge Grants TRO to Block Enforcement of Potential Ecuador Verdict Against Chevron

In the latest twist in a hard-fought international environmental case that reportedly could win a megabillions verdict for the plaintiffs, a federal judge in New York has granted a temporary restraining order banning enforcement of any judgment that might be awarded in the future by a court in Ecuador. The…

Feb 9, 2011 8:20 PM CST

Can Law Student Be Disciplined for Suing Accuser? Federal Judge Says Yes

A Vermont Law School student has sued the institution, an official there and another law student over the handling of a sexual assault and sexual harassment complaint in which he was exonerated by an internal code of conduct board. But Joshua Vaughan’s disciplinary problems may not be over yet. In…

Feb 8, 2011 8:18 PM CST

Patton Firm Seeks to Sue Chevron, Gibson Dunn, Claims Tortious Interference with Client Relationship

Last week, Chevron Corp. filed a federal civil racketeering lawsuit in New York against the plaintiffs in a hard-fought multi-billion-dollar Ecuador environmental case, alleging that they conspired to manufacture and withhold evidence. Among the defendants is one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, Steven Donziger. This week, another plaintiffs law…

Feb 8, 2011 4:34 PM CST

Madoff Trustee Is Seeking $300M From NY Mets Owners, Per Lawsuit Made Public Today

It wasn’t merely $48 million that a bankruptcy trustee winding up the affairs of convicted swindler Bernard Madoff was seeking in a lawsuit filed in December against the owners of the New York Mets. It was $300 million, say news reports today. That amount represents the “fictitious profits” allegedly reaped…

Feb 4, 2011 6:50 PM CST

Unsealed Madoff Trustee Suit Details $6.4B Claim Against JPMorgan Chase

Unsealed today in federal bankruptcy court, a $6.4 billion lawsuit filed late last year against JPMorgan Chase & Co. details the theories under which a trustee liquidating the business of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff is seeking to force the bank to ante up for some Madoff investor losses. Copies…

Feb 4, 2011 1:18 AM CST

Chevron Shifts Gears, Files Civil RICO Suit Against Plaintiffs

Corrected: Upping the ante in a hard-fought legal battle over megabillions in environmental damage allegedly caused to a South American rain forest by a predecessor of Chevron Corp., the oil company has filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the plaintiffs. The suit accuses the plaintiffs, their lawyers and other members…

Feb 3, 2011 5:13 PM CST

Federal Judge’s Theories About a Child Porn Gene Get Him Tossed from Case

U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe has a theory about people who view child pornography. About 50 years from now, scientists will discover that child porn consumption is caused by “a gene you were born with,” Sharpe said as he sentenced a defendant to 6½ years in prison in December 2009.…

Jan 31, 2011 1:42 PM CST

Madoff Swindle Could Force Partial Sale of NY Mets, as Trustee Seeks Perhaps $48M Clawback

Faced with a lawsuit over a “profit” of nearly $48 million purportedly earned on a $523 million investment with record-breaking Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, the owners of the New York Mets are considering selling a minority share in the team. Fortunately, the market for selling fractional interests in sports franchises…

Jan 28, 2011 9:13 PM CST

Lawyer in Megabucks Chevron Enviro Case Must Turn Over Hard Drive Mirror Images, Judge Rules

After persuading a federal judge that a plaintiff’s lawyer waived privilege by operating as a “political operative” in conjunction with the making of a documentary film, a corporate defendant in a megabucks South American environmental case has scored a follow-up victory. Initially, based on the “political operative” finding, a federal…

Jan 27, 2011 9:18 PM CST

Woman Who Raised Infant Kidnapped from Hospital in 1987 Is Charged; FBI Says She Confessed

A woman who raised a baby kidnapped from a New York hospital in 1987 has been criminally charged and the FBI says she confessed, reports the Associated Press. Wanting a baby that she was unable to have herself, Ann Pettway admitted that she took 19-day-old Carlina White when she saw…

Jan 24, 2011 7:01 PM CST

Bank Worker Allegedly Stole $6M By Diverting Checks and Funneling Payments to Husbands’ Companies

It isn’t just law firm staffers who allegedly have been stealing from their employers through fraudulent schemes and bogus record-keeping. A former Connecticut bank employee is accused of masterminding a $6 million fraud through which two lending institutions were allegedly tricked into paying out $5 million to companies operated by…

Jan 21, 2011 5:14 PM CST

Doc Film That Cut A/C Privilege in $113B Enviro Case Also Pierced Filmmaker’s Shield, 2nd Cir. Says

Last year, a decision to cooperate with a filmmaker making a documentary about a $113 billion Ecuadorean environmental case cost plaintiffs’ counsel their attorney-client privilege. Now in the latest adverse ruling to the plaintiffs as a result of the Crude documentary, a federal appeals court has held that the film…

Jan 14, 2011 5:39 PM CST

Another NY Lawyer Goes Down in $23M Mortgage Fraud Case

A New York real estate lawyer pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan yesterday to bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. Cheddi Goberdhan faces a prison term of up to 210 years when he is sentenced in April, reports Dow Jones Newswires, based on information from…

Jan 11, 2011 6:41 PM CST

Obama Renominates 42 Judicial Picks, But Not Judge Hit for Execution Delay

President Obama has renominated 42 out of 43 judicial nominees who didn’t win approval by the end of the 111th Congress in December. Left off the list was U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny of Connecticut, who had been nominated for the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according…

Jan 6, 2011 2:32 PM CST

Finicky Felines Prefer Super Scoop Kitty Litter, Not Fresh Step, Federal Lawsuit Contends

Citing a competing—and, it says, superior—study of feline toileting preferences, one leading manufacturer of kitty litter has made a federal case out of another’s advertising claim that finicky cats prefer the Fresh Step brand manufactured by Clorox Co. In fact, contends Church & Dwight Co. in a lawsuit filed today…

Jan 6, 2011 1:00 AM CST