Columns | May 18, 2013

Outside Counsel

Implications of Statute Establishing Unemployed as a Protected Group

Geoffrey A. Mort, of counsel to Kraus & Zuchlewski, discusses the stigma of unemployment and the New York City act, which takes effect in mid-June and represents the most assertive legal step taken to date anywhere in this country to assist the unemployed after several years of efforts in a number of states to address this issue.

Civil Practice / Civil Rights / Employment

Featured Columns

Timing of Expert Disclosure in Context of Summary Judgment Motions

In his New York Practice column, Patrick M. Connors, a professor at Albany Law School, discusses Appellate Division decisions that have imposed sanctions for a failure to comply with the obligation to disclose the identities of expert witnesses expected to be called at trial in the context of a motion for summary judgment made well in advance of the trial.

Civil Practice / Evidence

Featured Columns

AIG Offers Lessons for MBS Fraud Plaintiffs

Andrew E. Tomback, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder, and Megan Quattlebaum, an associate at the firm, write that the AIG settlement offers a simple yet consequential lesson for the attorney general and the plaintiffs' bar: hurry - because when both the state and private parties are litigating these types of claims at once, the first party to settle will win the restitution prize.

Banking / Business Law / Civil Practice / Consumer Protection / Damages / Government / Torts

Featured Columns

Supreme Court Articulates Rigorous Standard for Class Certification

In his Antitrust column, Elai Katz, a partner of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, writes that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a district court should not have certified a class of cable subscribers asserting antitrust violations by their cable provider because the plaintiffs did not adequately demonstrate that their damages could be measured on a class-wide basis.

Antitrust / Civil Practice / Intellectual Property / United States Supreme Court

Outside Counsel

Seeking Answers on Fourth Amendment Emergency Exception and 'Mitchell'

Bronx Criminal Court Judge John H. Wilson discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 holding that refused to accept the New York Court of Appeals' requirement that police officers be primarily motivated by the need to respond to an emergency and not by intent to arrest or collect evidence before entering a residence without a warrant, and how state courts have responded since then, given that the Court of Appeals has not acknowledged this change in the law.

Appeals / Constitutional Law / Criminal Practice / Evidence

Featured Columns

Home Sweet Home: Mandatory Medicaid Home Care

In his Elder Law column, Daniel G. Fish, a principal in Daniel G. Fish LLC, writes that whether managed long-term care benefits seniors or benefits the plans that administer the care is an unresolved issue, but what is clear is that this program is already in effect and must be monitored closely.

Administrative Law / Health Law / Social Services Law

Outside Counsel

Evaluation Law Could Limit Ability to Terminate Probationary Teachers

Warren H. Richmond III, a partner at Harris Beach, writes that the term 'performance,' like the term 'significant factor,' has been left undefined by the legislation's drafters. Was it their intent that the term be narrowly defined so as to refer solely to performance as reflected by the completed APPR score received by a teacher?

Contracts / Government / Labor Law / Schools and Education

Corporate Update

Securities Enforcement: 2013 Report Card

In his Corporate Securities column, John C. Coffee Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School, grades the plaintiff's bar and the SEC, finding that private enforcement of the securities laws boils down to the efforts of a relative handful of firms, with others seldom in control of the major cases that can generate deterrence, and that the SEC lacks the ability to handle the large, factually complex case.

Business Law / Civil Practice / Government

Featured Columns

'Good Company' Behavior Can Knock Out Class Actions

In his Complex Litigation column, Michael Hoenig, a member of Herzfeld & Rubin, writes that the class action system creates perverse incentives, harmful disincentives and significant conflicts with the normal law of sales as reflected in the Uniform Commercial Code.

Civil Practice / Commercial Law / Products Liability

Corporate Update

Proposed $1.6 Billion Deal Has Its Critics

Potential class members in the sudden acceleration litigation against Toyota Motor Corp. have filed objections to the proposed settlement reached on behalf of consumers asserting claims for economic damages.

Civil Practice / Motor Vehicles / Torts