2nd Circuit Court

How Attorney Marc Dreier Allegedly Sold Worthless Forged Paper for $113M

In an era of high-tech fraud, the founder of the Dreier law firm is accused of doing it the old-fashioned way. Using little more than his position and skills as a prominent and seasoned attorney, Marc Dreier allegedly tricked sophisticated investors into paying more than $100 million for worthless forged…

Dec 9, 2008 8:20 PM CST

Dreier Founder Charged in ‘Brazen’ Alleged $100M Investment Fraud Attempt

The founder of the not quite 250-attorney Dreier law firm was charged today by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with securities and wire fraud, in connection with what an Securities and Exchange Commission official describes as an alleged “brazen” attempt to cheat three unnamed hedge funds out of $100 million. Marc…

Dec 8, 2008 8:09 PM CST

No Supreme Court Appeal in Case that Put Prosecutor Tactics on Trial

Prosecutors have declined to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling that threw out 13 indictments because the government pressured the defendants’ employer to stop paying their legal fees. The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in August that prosecutors violated the employees’…

Dec 2, 2008 12:00 PM CST

Citizens Overseas Can Be Searched Without Warrant, Court Rules

Evidence acquired in a warrantless search of an American citizen overseas may be admitted in a court here, a federal appeals court has ruled. The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled in the case of three followers of Osama bin Laden convicted in a conspiracy that included…

Nov 25, 2008 1:00 PM CST

Temp Attorneys Paid $35-$40/Hour; Plaintiff Firms Seek $500 in Xerox Case

At least two graduates of big-name law schools earned $35 to $40 an hour to work on a contract basis in class action litigation against Xerox Corp. But now the law firms that hired them are seeking to get reimbursed about $500 per hour for their services. Plaintiffs’ counsel have…

Nov 24, 2008 8:52 PM CST

Amish Families to Sue N.Y. Town Over Building Code Enforcement Issues

Contending that their First Amendment right to religious freedom is being abridged by too-zealous enforcement of a New York municipality’s building codes, a group of Amish families plans to file a federal suit against Morristown. “Lori H. Windham, an attorney for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty of Washington, D.C.,…

Nov 10, 2008 7:58 PM CST

Feds Won’t Charge Eliot Spitzer, Ex-New York Governor and AG

Eliot Spitzer, whose law-and-order image was tarnished earlier this year when his reported use of high-class prostitutes made international headlines, won’t be federally prosecuted. Michael Garcia, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, announced today that federal prosecutors won’t file criminal charges against the former New York governor and ex-attorney general of…

Nov 6, 2008 9:16 PM CST

2nd Circuit OKs Suit Over Alleged Union Carbide Water Pollution in Bhopal, India

Nearly 25 years after a catastrophic accident in Bhopal, India, killed thousands of people, a federal appeals court in the U.S. has reinstated a 2004 lawsuit concerning those allegedly exposed to toxic drinking water and contaminated soil after the 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide Corp. pesticide plant there.…

Nov 4, 2008 8:00 PM CST

$125M Google Settlement Paves Way for Online Book Publishing

Google Inc. is proclaiming victory over its agreement to pay $125 million to settle copyright litigation by publishers and authors. The settlement, the Internet search engine giant says, will allow it to expand a book-scanning project and provide greater online access to tomes once available only in hard copy format,…

Oct 28, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

‘Hedge Fund Wives’ Sparks Sisters’ Copyright Spat

A society wife and her sister are gearing up for a court battle over who actually wrote the upcoming book, Hedge Fund Wives. Tatiana Boncompagni Hoover, a published author who is married to an heir to the vacuum cleaner fortune, says she did. But her sister, Natasha, who lives in…

Oct 27, 2008 9:58 PM CDT

Magistrate Recommends Default Judgment for Destroyed Evidence

A federal magistrate in Brooklyn is recommending a default judgment against defendants who sought to destroy evidence by secretly replacing his computer. If the recommendation is adopted, the sanction would be the first default for electronic spoliation within the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the New…

Oct 23, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

Dean: 2nd Circuit Judge Should Apologize for ‘Anti-Social’ Remark

Updated: As a longtime law professor and now dean, Erwin Chemerinsky is a regular on the pro bono scene. So when he read news reports that 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs was critical of the pro bono work orchestrated by law firms, he was taken…

Oct 22, 2008 5:47 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Knocks Settlement Plan to Remove Sanction from Databases

A federal appeals court has refused to vacate a trial judge’s sanctions against three lawyers found to have filed a meritless lawsuit. The court also criticized their attempt to remove the ruling from online databases. The three lawyers had agreed to settle with the defendant—but only if the New York…

Oct 22, 2008 12:28 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Chief Judge Says Pro Bono Work is ‘Anti-Social’

The chief judge of the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blasted pro bono work as “anti-social” and “self-serving” at a Federalist Society meeting this week. Judge Dennis Jacobs contended pro bono work is an “anti-social” activity that is sometimes used to expand courts’ reach into legislative…

Oct 15, 2008 2:59 PM CDT

What Weil Wants for Lehman Bros. Bankruptcy Work: $355 to $950/Hour

Nice work if you can get it: In a fee application filed yesterday in federal bankruptcy court in New York, one of the nation’s most renowned corporate bankruptcy law practice groups revealed what it hopes to get for its work in the nation’s biggest bankruptcy case. The petition by Lehman…

Oct 9, 2008 9:52 PM CDT