New York Attorneys JHA handles range the gamut of complex financial and commercial litigation and arbitration, including securities, RICO, corporate and contract disputes, credit default swaps, derivatives, and class, mass, and derivative actions. The firm also represents law firms in major disputes.

Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

New York Attorneys JHA handles range the gamut of complex financial and commercial litigation and arbitration, including securities, RICO, corporate and contract disputes, credit default swaps, derivatives, and class, mass, and derivative actions. The firm also represents law firms in major disputes.
Commercial Litigation and Arbitration
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RICO — Hub-and-Spoke Configuration ≠ Enterprise

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In addition to finding that the “Google Network” was too diffuse to comprise a RICO enterprise, the Court in Vulcan Golf, LLC v. Google Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60608 (N.D. Ill. July 31, 2008), noted that, whatever validity a hub-and-spoke configuration may have as a form of conspiracy, it does not amount to a RICO enterprise:

As ... discussed [in In re Lupron Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., 295 F. Supp. 2d 148, 173-74 (D. Mass. 2003)], the hub-and-spoke scheme alleged by the plaintiffs is generally not accepted as a RICO enterprise:

Most courts have found that complaints alleging hub-and-spoke enterprises fail to satisfy the RICO enterprise requirement. See VanDenBroeck v. CommonPoint Mortg. Co., 210 F.3d 696, 700 (6th Cir. 2000) (rejecting a RICO enterprise involving defendant bank and a series of sub-lenders with whom the bank associated, because there were no allegations of a mechanism by which this group "conducted its affairs or made decisions"); New York Auto. Ins. Plan v. All Purpose Agency & Brokerage, Inc. , 97-CV-3164, RICO Bus. Disp. Guide 9611, 1998 WL 695869 at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 1998) (rejecting a hub-and-spoke enterprise in which auto-insurer conspired with individual clients to provide them lower insurance rates, without any evident association between the clients; stating "Such a series of discontinuous independent frauds is not an 'enterprise.' Each is a single two-party conspiracy."); First Nationwide Bank v. Gelt Funding, Corp., 820 F. Supp. 89, 98 (S.D.N.Y. 1993) (holding that hub-and-spoke scheme is not an enterprise); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ala. v. Caremark, Inc., 98-CV-1285, RICO Bus. Disp. Guide 9828, 1999 WL 966434 at *8 (N.D. Ill. 1999) (rejecting enterprise theory in RICO insurance-fraud claim involving health providers because "[p]laintiffs fail to allege how this large and geographically diverse group of almost 3,000 independent physicians and entities acted in concert with one another .... there is no indication that the individual [providers] were even aware of each other's existence."); Blue Cross of Cal. v. SmithKline Beecham Clinical Labs., Inc., 62 F. Supp. 2d 544, 551-53 (D. Conn. 1998) (rejecting proposed enterprise consisting of insurer and, among others, thousands of doctors, where there was no evidence doctors were even aware of alleged kickback scheme).

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Criminal Spoliation Can Be A Due Process Violation — Defendant Must Show That (1) The Evidence Had Exculpatory Value Before It Was Destroyed, (2) Defendant Is Unable to Obtain Comparable Evidence by Reasonable Means, and (3) Bad Faith Failure to Preserve

1) Rule 11 Sanctions: “No First Amendment Exception to a Rule 11 Violation” — “[T]he First Amendment Covers Novel, Nonfrivolous Arguments, But Many Frivolous Arguments Are Also Novel” (Good Quotes) — Frivolous To Continue To Make Rejected Novel Arguments; (2) FRAP 38 Sanctions: District Court In Best Position to Set Sanctions, Attorney’s Fees and Costs

3 Prerequisites for Inherent Power and § 1927 Sanctions in Second Circuit: (1) Bad Faith, (2) Conduct That Is Entirely Without Color [Thus, An Ill-Motivated Colorable Position Appears to Be Protected in the Second Circuit], and (3) Improper Purpose— “To Gain A Strategic Advantage” Is An Improper Purpose — Due Process Satisfied by Opponent’s Motion and Multiple Court Conferences, After Which Target Was Allowed to Submit Additional Letters

Inherent Power Sanctions — Untimeliness as Laches — Laches Properly Applied to Deny Sanctions Motion — Note Waived Defenses to Laches

Rule 37(c)(1) Sanctions: Substantial Justification or Harmless Error (Ninth Circuit Factors) — Erie: When State Supreme Court Has Not Squarely Addressed an Issue, Circuit Must Predict How It Would Rule, Using Intermediate Appellate Decisions, Decisions from Other Jurisdictions, Statutes, Treatises And Restatements for Guidance

(1) Appellate Review of Inherent Power Sanctions (7th Circuit): Factual Findings Reviewed for Clear Error, Choice of Sanction for Abuse of Discretion — 4-Element Test for Reversal; (2) Sanctions and Class Actions: Monetary Sanctions Properly Imposed on Defendants for Improper Communications with Class Members (Represented Parties) — “[I]f The Class And The Class Opponent Are Involved In An Ongoing Business Relationship, Communications From The Class Opponent To The Class May Be Coercive” (Good Quote); (3) Monetary Sanctions under Goodyear v. Haeger: If Same Fact-Gathering Would Have Been Conducted Absent The Misconduct, No But-For Causation — But Only “Rough Justice” Required, “Not Accountant-Like Precision” (Good Quote) — Once Misconduct Is Clear, Time Spent Ferreting It Out Compensable under Goodyear; (4) Goodyear Did Not Overrule Long-Standing Rule That Courts May Impose Modest Civil Monetary Sanctions to Curb Litigation Abuse; (5) Appellate Jurisdiction Lacking Where Sanctioned Attorney Fails to File Notice of Appeal and Lawyer’s Intent to Appeal Not Apparent from Client’s Notice; (5) Rule 11 Improper Purpose — Party May Have Many Purposes for Pursuing Claim — As Long As Claim Is Supported by Good Faith Belief in the Merits, “A Parallel Reason Does Not Violate Rule 11” — To Deny A Motion for Sanctions, The District Court Need Not Address Every Argument: “Arguments Clearly Without Merit Can, And For The Sake Of Judicial Economy Should, Be Passed Over In Silence” (Good Quote); Non-Monetary Sanction on Counsel: Complete Twice The Required Amount Of Professional Responsibility Hours For Her Next Continuing Legal Education Cycle Imposed By The State Bar

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New York Attorneys JHA handles range the gamut of complex financial and commercial litigation and arbitration, including securities, RICO, corporate and contract disputes, credit default swaps, derivatives, and class, mass, and derivative actions. The firm also represents law firms in major disputes.
New York Attorneys JHA handles range the gamut of complex financial and commercial litigation and arbitration, including securities, RICO, corporate and contract disputes, credit default swaps, derivatives, and class, mass, and derivative actions. The firm also represents law firms in major disputes.

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