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

Joseph Hage Aaronson

§ 1927 Sanctions: Recklessness Alone Insufficient — Argument Not Frivolous If Issue Unresolved and Out-of-Circuit Precedent Supports It — Failure to Withdraw Claim & Opposing Dismissal Once Aware of Baselessness Is Sanctionable

Stone Creek, Inc. v Omnia Italian Design, Inc., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12393 (9th Cir. July 11, 2017):   This appeal, set in the high-stakes world of furniture sales, runs the gamut of trademark infringement issues. The facts are somewhat unusual:…
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Rule 36 Admissions — Judge “Implicitly” Allowed Withdrawal by Admitting Contrary Testimony: “To Order a New Trial on the Basis of a Technical Error Would Be to Arrogate Form over Substance, Wasting Everybody’s Time to No Purpose” (Good Quote)

The plaintiff, which for simplicity we'll call just Tate, sells ingredients used in the food and beverage industry. The defendant, Glatt, a member of a substantial German conglomerate called the Glatt group, sells processing equipment to the food industry. In…
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Equivocal Texts ≠ Statements against Penal Interest — Mere Possibility Witness Might Invoke Fifth ≠ Unavailability — Authentication of Texts by Evidence of Phone Ownership & Contents OK, But Double Hearsay, Cloudy Circumstances Insufficient

Cottmeyer v. State, 2017 Md. App. LEXIS 725 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. July 17, 2017): Appellant, Matthew Everett Cottmeyer, was charged in the Circuit Court for Somerset County, Maryland, with first degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first degree burglary, theft…
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Attorney-Client Privilege & Work Product: Mere Allegations, Bare Assertions Insufficient to Invoke Crime-Fraud Exception — What Is a Prima Facie Showing? — Client’s Current Law Firm May Appeal via Perlman

In re Grand Jury Subpoena, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 10690 (3d Cir. June 16, 2017): *   This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. This case involves the…
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Waiver of Securities Claims Is Invalid (§ 29(a)), But All Other Claims Are Gone, Including RICO — Moving to Amend within Statute of Repose Makes Claim Timely — Denial of Leave to Amend Requires Prejudice or Bad Faith (Factors), Not Mere Delay

Pasternack v. Schrader, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12513 (2d Cir. July 13, 2017): The plaintiffs are retired officers of Booz Allen Hamilton, a privately-held corporation. Bruce Pasternack, Reginald Boudinot, and Paul Kocourek allege that they were improperly denied compensation when, …
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Contrary to 6th Circuit (see our 7/12/17 post), New York Court of Appeals Seems to Require That Authentication of Any Photo on Social Media Requires Authentication of Page or ID of Owner — But the Case Was Argued That Way

People v Price, 2017 N.Y. LEXIS 1694 (N.Y. Ct. App. June 27, 2017): On this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the People proffered a sufficient foundation at trial to authenticate a photograph — purportedly of defendant holding a…
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Sanctions—Appellate Review: “Deference Should Not Be Confused with Total Capitulation”—Rule 11 Does “Not Require Perfect Research or Utter Prescience” (Good Quotes) — Client Can’t Be Sanctioned for Flawed Legal Arguments

Eldridge v. Gordon Bros. Grp., LLC, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12577 (1st Cir. July 13, 2017): PREFACE Today's case involves a moderately complex business dispute, rich with issues. On one side is plaintiff K's Merchandise Mart, Inc., which we call…
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Recent Articles

RICO: Fraudulent Concealment Must Prevent Discovery of the Injury to Toll Statute of Limitations

Rule 37 Default Judgment Sanction: (1) Abuse of Discretion Review = Legal Conclusions De Novo. Factual Findings for Clear Error — (2) Client May Be Sanctioned for Misconduct of Its Counsel, Though Here Client Was Directly Involved in Bad Faith Misbehavior — (3) Is There A Difference, Under Rule 11 As Opposed to Rule 37, Concerning Whether A Client Can Be Sanctioned for Its Counsel’s Misconduct? — (4) While Sanctions of Last Resort (Dismissal/Default) Are Apt Only If Lesser Sanctions Wouldn’t Ensure Compliance, Rule 37 Doesn’t Require the Vain Gesture of First Imposing Lessert Sanctions When It Is Clear They Would be Ineffective — (5) Court’s Reconsideration of Non-Final Orders Is Governed by Rule 54(b), And Court’s Discretion under That Rule Is Governed by the Law-of-the-Case-Doctrine

RICO: (1) Special Pleading Requirements? — (2) Although Enterprise Must Be More Than a Summation of the Predicate Acts, The Predicate Acts Can Demonstrate the Existence of the Enterprise — (3) Requirement That Association-in-Fact Exist For Purposes Other Than Just to Commit Predicate Acts Merely Requires Continuity — (4) To State an Association-in-Fact Enterprise Consisting of One Natural Person and Collection of Legal Fictions Requires Factual Detail As to How They Acted Together — (5) “A § 1962(c) Enterprise Must Be More Than An Association of Individuals Or Entities Conducting the Normal Affairs of a Defendant Corporation” (Good Quote)

RICO: (1) Fee Award May Exceed Amount Recovered — Strict Proportionality Not Required — (2) Nonmonetary Benefits and Injunctive Relief Recovered Also Relevant Factors — (3) Loss on Some Claims Need Not Result in Lowered Fees, Especially When Both Arise Out of The Same Nucleus of Operative Facts

RICO: Indirect Purchasers (Car Buyers/Renters) Lack Standing to Sue Manufacturers for RICO Violations Even Though Intermediaries (Auto Dealer Direct Purchasers) Lack Any Damages

RICO: Statutory Requirement that RICO Be Liberally Construed Does Not Establish a More Liberal Pleading Standard for RICO Claims — “To Be Sure, Adequately Pleading a RICO Claim Can Be Challenging” (Good Quote) — Court May Dismiss Action Pursuant to Rule 41(b) Absent A Motion

Electronic Spoliation/Rule 37(e): (1) Finding of Recklessness But Neither Gross Negligence Nor Willfulness in Loss of Video Evidence Precludes Rule 37(e)(2)’s Severest Sanctions Because (i) No Intent to Deprive and (ii) Rule 37(e)(2) Displaces District Court’s Power to Invoke Inherent Power to Impose Those Sanctions — (2) Appellate Review = Abuse of Discretion, With The Caveat That Whether The District Court Applied The Correct Legal Standards Is Reviewed De Novo — (3) Inherent Power Is Often Available As An Alternate Source of Sanctioning Power But Can Be Limited by Rule or Statute, Something Which Courts Do Not Lightly Presume — (4) The Text of Rule 37(e)(2), As Confirmed by the Advisory Committee Note, Displaces Inherent Power to Impose the Sanctions Specified in the Rule or Any More Severe Sanctions — (5) “Intent to Deprive” in Rule 37(e)(2) = “The Willful Destruction Of Evidence With The Purpose Of Avoiding Its Discovery By An Adverse Party” — (6) Appellate Standing Conferred by Virtue of Issuance of Sanctions Regardless of Merits Outcome — (7) Value of Advisory Committee Notes in Interpreting Rules Enacted without Change Despite General Reticence to Rely on Legislative History

RICO: (1) Plaintiff Need Not Suffer Injury from Each Predicate Act to Establish Standing, And The Pattern May Include Predicates As to Which No Plaintiff Has Standing — (2) 7 Elements of a Civil RICO Claim (2d Circuit Articulation) Which Must Be Established As to Each Defendant — (3) Requirements of an Association-in-Fact Enterprise — (4) Each Defendant Must Personally Commit 2 or More Predicate Acts — (5) Pattern of Racketeering Activity: Horizontal and Vertical Elements — (6) No Requirement That All Members of a RICO Enterprise Joined at Inception — Can Join Over Time/Others Can Quit — (7) Cannot Charge 2 Predicate Acts Where One Action Violates Two Statutes — (8) A Footnote to Consider for Briefs: “Unless Otherwise Noted, When Quoting Judicial Decisions This Order Accepts All Alterations And Omits All Citations, Footnotes, And Internal Quotation Marks.”

For An Appeal to Be Timely, A Motion for Reconsideration in The District Court (A Rule 59(e) Motion) Must Be Filed, And Not Just Served within 30 Days of The Decision, to Toll The 30-Day Period for Filing An Appeal

There Is No Good-Faith Defense For Issuing An Overly Burdensome Subpoena

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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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