Posts on ‘May 19th, 2009’

As part of its defense against a libel action brought by a New York court judge, the New York Post has subpoenaed nine current and former Brooklyn judges, including four former administrative judges. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Francois Rivera filed the libel suit in 2006, claiming the Post defamed him in a series of four articles published in October 2005, which stated that the judge had allegedly paid Brooklyn Democratic Party officials $50,000 for his seat.

Mayer Brown Vice Chairman Paul Maher, who had been on sabbatical at the law firm when he was passed over for one of the firm’s new management posts, has provided his official resignation from the firm. In a revamp of its governance structure, the firm said earlier this year that it was eliminating the vice chair positions and appointing Kenneth Geller, a partner in Washington, D.C., who served as a second vice chairman with Maher, to serve as the firm’s new managing partner.

Donald Trump is known for putting a positive spin even on news that doesn’t seem positive. But there is one way to get him down: Call him a millionaire. Trump, who says he’s a billionaire, is suing the author of a book in which three unnamed sources said Trump’s net worth is between $150 million and $250 million. The Donald claims it was malicious, and it hurt his business. A judge said Monday she would rule within two months on whether the real estate mogul’s lawsuit should be dismissed.

Woody Allen agreed Monday to a $5 million settlement in his lawsuit accusing American Apparel of using an image parodying him as a rabbi without his permission. The settlement, to be paid by American Apparel’s insurance company, was announced on the same day that a trial was to start in Manhattan federal court. Allen’s lawyers said the settlement may be the largest amount ever paid to settle a lawsuit brought under state privacy statutes. American Apparel president Dov Charney said it was the insurer’s decision to settle.

In a decision likely to increase the pressure on President Barack Obama to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, the justices ruled Monday that employers may give less credit for long-ago pregnancy leave than for other medical leave in calculating pension benefits. The justices also agreed to hear a case testing the constitutionality of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act provision creating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and to consider newspaper magnate Conrad Black’s challenge to his 2007 fraud conviction.

A former paralegal at Norristown, Pa.-based High Swartz has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from the firm and using the money to pay restitution in a case where she has been found guilty of stealing $285,000 from a New York law firm, according to the Montgomery County DA’s office. An internal audit, done after paralegal Kathy Foer-Morse was fired by High Swartz for attitude and work performance, revealed the alleged theft, according to the DA’s office.

Furloughs may be the strategy du jour, but they might be the lawsuit of tomorrow. So warn employment lawyers, who foresee a growing number of wage-and-hour lawsuits associated with furloughs, particularly as they become more popular. In a recent survey of 245 large companies, 10 percent of employers said they had offered unpaid time off, and an additional 9 percent said they planned to do so in the next year. Furlough-related lawsuits are only a matter of time, predict management-side attorneys.

A collection of organizations filed complaints Monday with five State Bar associations, accusing former Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey and nine other former Bush administration lawyers of violating professional standards by sanctioning the use of torture on terrorism suspects. The complaints are the latest in a campaign to ratchet up the pressure on the Obama administration to investigate Bush administration officials for their roles in blessing harsh interrogation techniques.

Big Tobacco and other major businesses took a hit Monday when California justices ruled that class actions over alleged fraud can go forward, even if it’s impossible to tell whether every plaintiff was harmed by deceptive ads. The ruling clarifies that Proposition 64, passed in 2004, doesn’t prevent average citizens from acting as so-called private attorneys general in class actions under the state’s unfair competition law. Some experts had argued that the ballot measure limited UCL suits’ filing to government officials.

Responding to ethics charges over derogatory comments made from the bench, Ocean County, N.J., Judge James Citta says there’s a time and a place for invective. He acknowledges it was improper to mock an immigrant defendant over his inability to speak English and to offer to have him escorted back to Mexico in leg irons. But Citta is unapologetic for his admittedly “harsh, strong and blunt” language when sentencing a convicted attempted murderer whom he called a pathological liar and likened to O.J. Simpson.