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

Disqualification Should Be Decided before Merits — No Informed Consent Where Waiver Letter Merely States Interests “Are Or May Become Adverse” without Explanation — No Prejudice in Fact from Ethical Breach

Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Co. v. Mako One Corp., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 8507, 2019 WL 1283988 (8th Cir. Mar. 21, 2019): In August 2013, Mako One Corporation ("Mako") acquired the historic Badgerow Jackson Building in downtown Sioux …
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Spoliation: Timeliness of Sanctions Motion — 4 Factors for Gauging Whether Delay Should Bar Relief under Rule 37(e) [Or Otherwise] — Eve of Trial Too Late, If Non-Preservation Known Years Earlier, Even If Party Didn’t Realize Prejudice Earlier

Wakefield v. Visalus, Inc., 2019 WL 1411127 (D. Or. Mar. 27, 2019) ( Wakefield v. ViSalus, Inc., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48012 (D. Or., Mar. 22, 2019)): *1 Trial is set to begin in this class action lawsuit on…
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Even State RICO Stat. Allowing Suit for “Indirect” Injury Doesn’t Permit Shareholder Suit for Harm to Corp. Devaluing Stock — It Is a Derivative Claim — Contempt for Violating Automatic Stay Where Corp. = Debtor

Nicole Gas Production, Ltd. v. Bowers, 2019 WL 850960 (6th Cir. Feb. 22, 2019): *1 This is a bankruptcy contempt dispute. Normally a party’s conduct is contemptuous or it is not. But in this unusual case, whether the defendants are …
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Rule 404(b): Prior Bad Act Evidence Offered to Prove Matters Other Than Characteristic “Has Always Been Problematic for the Courts” — OK to Prove Lack of Accident when Defense Makes It Clear It Will Assert Accident Defense

Fairbanks v. State, 2019 WL 1374382 (Ind. Mar. 27, 2019): In criminal cases, Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b)’s purpose is to prevent the jury from indulging in the “forbidden inference”—that a defendant must be guilty of the charged crime because,…
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Class Actions — Is There a Necessity Requirement under Rule 23(b)(2)? — Circuit Split — Ascertainability Means Class Members Can Be (Not Have Been) Identified — Even 20 Members Sufficiently Numerous

J.S.X. v. Foxhoven., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43064, 2019 WL 1147144 (S.D. Iowa Mar. 13, 2019):  Plaintiffs J.S.X., C.P.X., and K.N.X. brought this action on [*3]  behalf of a putative class of individuals at the Boys State Training School…
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Attorney’s Fee Sanctions for Ex Parte Contact with Absent Putative Class Members (Source of Power?) — No Rule 26(a) Violation Where Their Affidavits Were Filed within a Month or Names Disclosed in Discovery

Weller v. Dollar Gen. Corp., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34325, 2019 WL 1045960 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 4, 2019): Plaintiff Christopher Weller has filed a Motion to Strike and for Sanctions (doc. 47) against Defendants Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp,…
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Sanctions — Vexatious Litigant Injunction: 4 Factors (9th Circuit) — Failure to Give Notice of Possible Injunction (Imposed on Rule 11 Motion) Requires Vacatur

Block v. Wash. State Bar Ass'n, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 4089 (Feb. 11, 2019) (unpublished): MEMORANDUM* and ORDER Plaintiff-appellant Anne Block appeals the district court's orders dismissing her amended complaint against defendants-appellees City of Gold Bar, Washington State…
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Website Authentication Depends on Purpose of Offer — Less Needed If Not for Attribution to Person — Legal Interpretation of Federal Rules of Evidence Reviewed De Novo — Did Motion in Limine Preserve Issue? (3 Factors)

United States v. Isabella, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 7213 (10th Cir. Mar. 12, 2019): Rande Isabella was convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) of persuading and attempting to persuade S.F., a 14-year-old girl, to "engage . . . in…
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Recent Articles

FRAP 38 and Pro Se Litigants — Observations, Not Sanctions, For Non-Existent Quotations

Rule 37(c)(1) Exclusion Sanction: Under R&R Sails, A Discovery Sanction Is Not Claim Dispositive Just Because It Makes It “Much More Difficult, Perhaps Almost Impossible” For A Party To Proceed With Its Claim Or Argument — The Sanction Must Be Fatal — Only Then Is Proof of Willfulness, Fault Or Bad Faith Required — To The Extent The Imposition Of Sanctions Turns On The Resolution Of An Issue Of Law, Review Is De Novo

Supreme Court: Party Moving to Set Aside Void Judgment Under Rule 60(b)(4) Must Do So Within A Reasonable Time Per Rule 60(c)(1)

Supreme Court: Erie/Rule 8/Rule 11: Fed. R. Civ. P. 8 Conflicts with and Overrides Delaware’s Affidavit of Merit in Medical Malpractice Actions — A Valid Rule of Civil Procedure Displaces Contrary State Law Even If The State Law Is Substantive — Rule 11’s Proviso That “[U]nless A Rule Or Statute Specifical States Otherwise, A Pleading Need Not Be Verified Or Accompanied By An Affidavit” Refers to Rules Or Statutes Requiring Represented Parties To Verify Pleading Or Sign Affidavits — It Has Nothing To Do With Affidavits From Third Parties — Good Quote: Drawing A Negative Inference from Text Is Sometimes the Best Way To Understand It

RICO Statute of Limitations — Storm Warnings, Not Thunder and Lightning (Good Quote)

Rule 37 Discovery Sanctions: Ninth Circuit’s Five-Factor Test for Gauging Appropriateness of Dismissal — The Limited Utility of Rule 12(f) Motions to Strike

RICO: Employer Suffered Harm to Business or Property When Kickbacks Paid to Employees in Real Estate Transactions Done for Employer — Expert Testimony Sufficient to Prove Harm — Proof That Employer Paid Above-Market Prices Not Essential — Non-Disclosure of Certain Damages in Initial Disclosures Cured by Expert Report, Which Also Rendered Initial Non-Disclosure Harmless

Spoliation: Dismissal Under Rule 37(e)(2) and Monetary Sanctions Under Rule 37(e)(1), Implicitly Reading The “Or” Between 37(e)(1) and 37(e)(2) As Conjunctive, Not Disjunctive — Clear Error Standard of Review for District Court’s Intent (= Bad Faith) Finding under 37(e)(2)(C) — Additional Monetary Sanctions Imposed on Claimants under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 and Rule 37(a)(5) — No Right to Jury Determination of Intent under Rule 37(e)(2) — “Substantially Justified” in Rule 37(a)(5) Has Same Meaning As In Equal Access to Justice Act and Thus Rule 11 — Meaning of “Unreasonable and Vexatious” in 7th Circuit

Inherent Power Sanction of Dismissal — Preponderance of the Evidence Burden of Proof, Not Clear and Convincing Evidence (7th Circuit)

§ 1927 Sanctions — Must A Lawyer Who Unreasonably and Vexatiously Multiplies Federal Court Proceedings Be Acting “As An Attorney” When Committing the Misconduct To Be Subject to Sanction under § 1927?

Archives
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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