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

Complex Lit Blog

Arbitration: Motion for Summary Judgment Waives Arbitration Right Even If, in the Alternative, It Seeks to Compel Arbitration

From Khan v. Parsons Global Servs., Ltd., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 7756 (D.C. Cir. April 11, 2008): The court has not previously held that a motion for summary judgment, standing alone, suffices to constitute a waiver of colorably arbitrable claims.... Other circuit courts of appeals have been more direct in assessing the relationship between ...
From Khan v. Parsons Global Servs., Ltd., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 7756 (D.C. Cir. April 11, 2008): The court has not previously held that a motion for summary judgment, standing alone, suffices to constitute a waiver of colorably arbitrable claims….…
Continue Reading

Sanctions — Uncivil Court Papers Ordered Rewritten

The pro se plaintiff in Anderson v. Wade, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28537 (W.D.N.C. March 27, 2008) evidently thought that brief-writing was supposed to consist of insult piled on insult. An example: The defendant's lawyers initiated their reprehensible ploy to corrupt, subvert and grossly misrepresent the power court's ruling, taint ...
The pro se plaintiff in Anderson v. Wade, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28537 (W.D.N.C. March 27, 2008) evidently thought that brief-writing was supposed to consist of insult piled on insult. An example: The defendant’s lawyers initiated their reprehensible ploy to…
Continue Reading

Email Admissibility on Summary Judgment — Authentication vs. Authenticatability

From Kenawell v. Dubois Business College, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26730 (W.D. Pa. March 20, 2008): • “Rule 803(6) of the Federal Rules of Evidence states that records that are kept in the course of regularly conducted business activity, not made for purposes of litigation, not indicating a lack of trustworthiness, and are made ...
From Kenawell v. Dubois Business College, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26730 (W.D. Pa. March 20, 2008): • “Rule 803(6) of the Federal Rules of Evidence states that records that are kept in the course of regularly conducted business activity,…
Continue Reading

RICO Class Actions — No Fraud on the Market Presumption

The Second Circuit reversed Judge Weinstein’s certification of a RICO class action brought by purchasers of Light Cigarettes in McLaughlin v. Am. Tobacco Co., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 7093 (2d Cir. April 3, 2008): • Reliance on Mail Fraud Predicates Required. In cases such as this one when mail or wire fraud is the predicate ...
The Second Circuit reversed Judge Weinstein’s certification of a RICO class action brought by purchasers of Light Cigarettes in McLaughlin v. Am. Tobacco Co., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 7093 (2d Cir. April 3, 2008): • Reliance on Mail Fraud Predicates…
Continue Reading

Lawyer Suspended from Practice in S.D.N.Y. Pending Final Resolution of Disciplinary Charges

Further consequences of the misconduct found in Wolters Kluwer Fin. Servs. Inc. v. Scivantage, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88052 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 29, 2007) (discussed in our post of December 7, 2007): The sanctioned lawyer’s conduct has been found sufficiently egregious to warrant an interim suspension from practice in the Southern District of New York pending fi ...
Further consequences of the misconduct found in Wolters Kluwer Fin. Servs. Inc. v. Scivantage, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88052 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 29, 2007) (discussed in our post of December 7, 2007): The sanctioned lawyer’s conduct has been found sufficiently egregious…
Continue Reading

Judicial Estoppel in the Second Circuit

From Oneida Ltd. v. PBGC, 2008 Bankr. LEXIS 442 (S.D.N.Y. Bankr. Feb. 27, 2008): The doctrine of judicial estoppel serves to protect the "integrity of the judicial process" by "prohibiting parties from deliberately changing positions according to the exigencies of the moment." New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 749-50, 121 S. ...
From Oneida Ltd. v. PBGC, 2008 Bankr. LEXIS 442 (S.D.N.Y. Bankr. Feb. 27, 2008): The doctrine of judicial estoppel serves to protect the “integrity of the judicial process” by “prohibiting parties from deliberately changing positions according to the exigencies of…
Continue Reading

Spoliation by Highlighting

From Manning v. State of Washington, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28403 (W.D. Wash. April 8, 2008): The Court finds no evidence of spoliation. What appears to be blocked out language on the "kite" where Manning declares a medical emergency on July 6, 2004, simply occurred after highlighting in pink then copying, resulting in a grayed out, less l ...
From Manning v. State of Washington, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28403 (W.D. Wash. April 8, 2008): The Court finds no evidence of spoliation. What appears to be blocked out language on the “kite” where Manning declares a medical emergency on…
Continue Reading

Monetary Sanctions and Sovereign Immunity

From Alexander v FBI, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27153 (D.D.C. April 3, 2008): ● “Sovereign immunity bars awards of attorneys' fees and costs against the government, except insofar as that immunity has been waived. Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U.S. 680, 685 (1983); Haase v. Sessions, 893 F.2d 370, 373 (D.C. Cir. 1990 ...
From Alexander v FBI, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27153 (D.D.C. April 3, 2008): ● “Sovereign immunity bars awards of attorneys’ fees and costs against the government, except insofar as that immunity has been waived. Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U.S.…
Continue Reading

Appealability of Denial of Motion to Stay Litigation Pending Arbitration Brought by Non-Party to the Arbitration Agreement — Circuit Split

The appellants in Carlisle v. Curtix, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, LLP, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 7511 (6th Cir. April 9, 2008), were co-defendants with a party who had signed an arbitration agreement with the plaintiff. They unsuccessfully moved in the district court to compel arbitration on equitable estoppel grounds. The issue on appeal was whether non-part ...
The appellants in Carlisle v. Curtix, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, LLP, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 7511 (6th Cir. April 9, 2008), were co-defendants with a party who had signed an arbitration agreement with the plaintiff. They unsuccessfully moved in the…
Continue Reading

Electronic Discovery — Metadata — Timing Is Everything

From Autotech Techs. LP v. AutomationDirect.com, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27962 (N.D. Ill. April 2, 2008): It seems a little late to ask for metadata after documents responsive to a request have been produced in both paper and electronic format. Ordinarily, courts will not compel the production of metadata when a party did not make that a ...
From Autotech Techs. LP v. AutomationDirect.com, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27962 (N.D. Ill. April 2, 2008): It seems a little late to ask for metadata after documents responsive to a request have been produced in both paper and electronic format.…
Continue Reading
Previous463464465466467468469Next

Recent Posts

RICO: (1) Continuity: 4th Circuit Factors — (2) 4th Circuit Reserves RICO Liability for Unlawful Activities That Pose A Special Threat to Social Well-Being — (3) For Purposes of Determining Closed-Ended Continuity, Even Time-Barred Conduct Considered — (4) No Open-Ended Continuity If Racketeering Activity Has Built-In Ending Point — (5) Unlike General Federal Conspiracy, RICO Conspiracy Doesn’t Require Each Defendant to Perform an Overt Act in Furtherance of the Conspiracy

Whether Party Waived Arbitration by Litigating Is a Question for the Court, Not the Arbitrator

RICO: (1) Assignability of RICO Claims Uncertain — (2) Declining to Decide Whether Indirect-Purchaser Rule Applies to RICO (Given the Directness Requirement, How Much Does It Matter?) — (3) Two Types of Directness of Injury in Proximate Cause Analysis — (4) Proximate Cause As a Court Not Jury Issue in the First Instance

(1) RICO Pattern: Open-Ended Continuity — The Vendetta Exception — Jury Could Reasonably Infer That Scheme Directed at One Person, With Goal of Destroying His Current and Future Business Prospects, Presented A Threat of Continued Racketeering Activity Extending Indefinitely into the Future — Lawsuit’s “Fortuitous Interruption” of Scheme ≠ Lack of Threat of Continuing Racketeering Activity — Acts of Concealment Used to Perpetuate Violations — Multiple Schemes Not Required — Jury Could Judge Defendant’s Credibility in Assessing Threat of Continuing Criminal Activity — (2) RICO Conspiracy — Two Methods of Proof: Agreement to Overall Objective Or to Commit Predicate Acts — Agreement Can Be Inferred from Conduct — Conspirator Needn’t Know All Details, Have Contact with Other Conspirators Or Participate in Every Stage

Experts: “Normally, Courts Are Loath to Outright Dismiss An Expert” (Good Quote) — Experts Are Unhelpful If They Misstate the Law [Note Premise That Testimony on Law Not Precluded Outright] — Rule 37 Sanctions Unwarranted for Unjustifiable Failure to Produce Relevant Document Already in Requester’s Possession

FRAP 38 Sanctions: (1) Pressing Objectively Frivolous Arguments, Multiple Misstatements at Oral Argument and Failure to Address What District Judge Said Warrant Award against Appellants’ Counsel (Only) — (2) “General Award” of $5,000 Warranted Where Appellee Failed to Sufficiently Document Its Fees and Expenses [Goodyear v. Haegar Issue]]

RICO: Capital Call Investment Process Increasing Equity of Those Responding to Call at Expense of Those Not Responding ≠ Collection of An Unlawful Debt

RICO [And Constitutional] Standing: Concrete Injury Requirement Not Satisfied by Alleged Intangible Injuries of Intrusion Upon Seclusion, Confusion And Emotional Distress, Public Disclosure of Private Facts, Deterred Speech On Nondefamatory Matters, Violation Of First Amendment Rights, And Compulsion

Rule 37(b) Sanctions: Striking of Answer, Default Judgment, Civil Contempt and Piercing Corporate Veil for Deliberate Disregard of Multiple Orders to Produce — Finding of Deliberate Disregard of Court Order Is Factual, Triggering Clear Error Review — Discretion Narrows When Default Sanction Involved — Fourth Circuit Factors for Rule 37 Default Sanction Are Different Than Those for Inherent Power Dismissal Sanction — Continued Defiance of Court Orders And Millions in Unpaid Judgments And Tax Liens Render Lesser Sanctions Futile

RICO: No Causation for Company Harmed by Governmental Customers Shunning It After Employee Publishes Book Admitting He Bribed Governmental Officials — Harm Too Indirect, Not from Bribery (Predicate Act) But from Customers’ Decisions to Shun and Publication of Book (Both Lawful) — Customers Injured by Bribery of Their Officials Are More Direct Plaintiffs

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.

New York Office

© 2025 Joseph Hage Aaronson LLC  
Disclaimer | Attorney Advertising Notice | Legal Notice