Posts on ‘September 23rd, 2009’

California Attorney General Jerry Brown set off another round of Madoff mania Tuesday with the announcement that his office is suing prominent money manager and philanthropist Stanley Chais for allegedly funneling millions to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. The complaint accuses Chais of serving as a “Madoff middleman” and seeks restitution for $25 million in civil penalties. Brown’s office said Chais reaped more than $270 million in fees while charging 25 percent on profits derived from Madoff-related investments.

After a series of recent layoffs and cuts, including plans to close its Austin, Texas, office and cut corporate transactional lawyers, Fish & Richardson is moving its Boston flagship office from the Financial District to the less costly South Boston waterfront. The firm signed a lease for a 124,000-square-foot space at One Marina Park Drive at Fan Pier in a 3-million square-foot project under construction next door to the Boston federal courthouse.

Big changes are coming to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on December 1, 2009, explains Merchant & Gould attorney Elizabeth Zidones, that affect various timing requirements, change how some deadlines are calculated and clarify the ambiguity that existed for e-filing deadlines.

After four days of testimony, the “Troll Tracker” defamation lawsuit ended in a confidential settlement the day before the East Texas jury hearing it was set to begin deliberations. Plaintiff Eric Albritton and defendants Cisco and Rick Frenkel — a former Cisco lawyer who blogged anonymously as the Patent Troll Tracker — settled the case Monday night, shortly after the judge ruled the jurors would have to find “actual malice” on the part of Frenkel and Cisco in order for Albritton to win punitive damages.

New York Gov. David A. Paterson has the constitutional power to fill a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor, the state Court of Appeals ruled 4-3 Tuesday, marking a stunning turnaround from the rulings of two lower courts. The majority agreed with the governor that the law gave him the power to name Richard Ravitch, the former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, to fill the position that became vacant when Paterson became governor with the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.

Google wants to delay a hearing on its controversial digital books settlement so it can modify the deal to satisfy antitrust regulators, according to a motion filed Tuesday. An Oct. 7 hearing was scheduled in New York to approve a $125 million settlement with authors and publishers that would allow Google to digitize millions of books. But the deal has come under intense scrutiny from the Department of Justice, which filed a stinging opposition to the settlement on Friday because of antitrust concerns.