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

Rule 11 — Duty to Inquire — Irrelevance of Signature — Duties of Local Counsel

A nightmare scenario. You are representing the foreign plaintiffs suing Texaco and Chevron for cancer caused by their Ecuadorian oil operations, and one your clients testify as follows: Q: Ms. [plaintiff], isn't it true that the first biopsy that was performed on you to see whether you had breast cancer was performed after April 2006? < ...
A nightmare scenario. You are representing the foreign plaintiffs suing Texaco and Chevron for cancer caused by their Ecuadorian oil operations, and one your clients testify as follows: Q: Ms. [plaintiff], isn’t it true that the first biopsy that was…
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H.R. 3013 — Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007

The text of H.R. 3013, The Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007, which was passed by House on Tuesday and which reverses the Holder/Thompson/McNulty Memo, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c110:./temp/~c1107lxBfV. You can keep track of the status of the legislation in the Senate and with the President at http://www.govtrack.us/congre ...
The text of H.R. 3013, The Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007, which was passed by House on Tuesday and which reverses the Holder/Thompson/McNulty Memo, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c110:./temp/~c1107lxBfV. You can keep track of the status of the legislation…
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Pleading — Incorporation by Reference and Rules 8(a)(2) & 10(c)

It is not often that a civil RICO complaint brought by the federal government against a union with a checkered history is dismissed on pleading grounds, but that is what happened in Brooklyn Federal Court on November 1, 2007. The Government’s Amended Complaint in United States v. Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80924 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. ...
It is not often that a civil RICO complaint brought by the federal government against a union with a checkered history is dismissed on pleading grounds, but that is what happened in Brooklyn Federal Court on November 1, 2007. The…
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RICO Developments 2007

A new article summarizing significant case law developments this year under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961 ff., has been posted on the Recent Articles page (title: RICO Developments 2007). It does not address the Supreme Court' s opinion in Wilkie v. Robbins, 127 S. Ct. 2588 (2007), because that is really a Hobbs A ...
A new article summarizing significant case law developments this year under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961 ff., has been posted on the Recent Articles page (title: RICO Developments 2007). It does not address the…
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‛Spoliation“ by Not Creating Evidence Despite Duty to Do So

If you call it ‛spoliation“ when someone destroys or fails to preserve evidence, what do you call it when someone ignores a duty to create evidence and, by doing so, impedes the factfinding process? That was the question for Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in Ramirez v. Pride Devel. & Constr. Corp. 244 F.R.D. 162 (E.D.N.Y. 2007). Answer: Equally sanc ...
If you call it ‛spoliation“ when someone destroys or fails to preserve evidence, what do you call it when someone ignores a duty to create evidence and, by doing so, impedes the factfinding process? That was the question for Magistrate…
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Twombly Count

As of November 10, 2007, less than six months after the Supreme Court’s decision in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955 (2007), a LEXIS search reveals that the opinion has been cited in more than 2,000 cases. Rarely, I suspect, to the benefit of the plaintiff. ...
As of November 10, 2007, less than six months after the Supreme Court’s decision in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955 (2007), a LEXIS search reveals that the opinion has been cited in more than 2,000 cases. Rarely,…
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RICO Causation

The plaintiff in Globe Wholesale Tobacco v. WWT, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72656 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2007), was a wholesale tobacco dealer whose RICO claim against a competitor was premised on the fact that the competitor was selling contraband cigarettes with phony tax stamps while the plaintiff was obeying the law and selling only more expensive, fully-taxed, l ...
The plaintiff in Globe Wholesale Tobacco v. WWT, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72656 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2007), was a wholesale tobacco dealer whose RICO claim against a competitor was premised on the fact that the competitor was selling contraband cigarettes…
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RICO — Injury to Business or Property — Loss of a Cause of Action

It is well-settled that personal injuries are not injuries to "business or property" within 18 U.S.C. 1964(c). What about a chose in action for personal injuries? In an unpublished opinion (whatever vitality that distinction enjoys in the E-Age) rendered on November 6, 2007, Magnum v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 25812 (3d Cir. Nov. 6, ...
It is well-settled that personal injuries are not injuries to “business or property” within 18 U.S.C. 1964(c). What about a chose in action for personal injuries? In an unpublished opinion (whatever vitality that distinction enjoys in the E-Age) rendered on…
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Attorney-Client Privilege — Email — Waiver by Use of Another’s Computer

Our June 3, 2007 post reported a decision in which transmittal of attorney-client privileged communications via a fiancй’s computer was held not to effect a waiver of privilege. Use of a computer at work can be another matter. In Scott v. Beth Israel Med. Ctr., 2007 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 7114 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Oct. 17, 2007), the plaintiff, a physician on ...
Our June 3, 2007 post reported a decision in which transmittal of attorney-client privileged communications via a fiancй’s computer was held not to effect a waiver of privilege. Use of a computer at work can be another matter. In Scott…
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Attorney-Client Privilege — Common Interest Privilege — Tax Practitioner’s Privilege

The Seventh Circuit in U.S. v. BDO Seidman, LLP, 492 F.3d 806 (7th Cir. 2007), was dealing with the same tax shelter strategy that brought about the demise of the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrest. The IRS was seeking to enforce administrative subpoenas against the accounting firm of BDO Seidman, which defended in part on the ground that certain of the docume ...
The Seventh Circuit in U.S. v. BDO Seidman, LLP, 492 F.3d 806 (7th Cir. 2007), was dealing with the same tax shelter strategy that brought about the demise of the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrest. The IRS was seeking…
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Recent Posts

Statements in Briefs As Judicial Admissions

Supreme Court: TRO As Appealable Order — And District Court Inaction As Tantamount to Refusing An Injunction And Thus Appealable

“Slow-Playing Discovery” in Response to Court Order, Prejudicing Opponent, Violates Rule 37(b)(2)(A)

RICO Pattern: No Closed-Ended Continuity If Racketeering Activity Lasted Less Than One Year (11th Circuit) — Conspiracy Allegations Governed by Rule 8(a), Not 9(b) — Two Paths to Establishing A RICO Conspiracy: Agreement to Objective Or to Commit 2 Predicate Acts — Plaintiff Need Not Show Reliance When The Predicate Acts Are Wire Fraud — In Dicta, 11th Circuit Intimates That Even If The Primary RICO Violation Allegations Fail, The RICO Conspiracy Allegations Might Survive, But Is Probably Talking About A Conspiracy to Commit The Predicate Acts

United States Trinity Energy Servs., L.L.C. v. Se. Directional Drilling, L.L.C., 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 10178 (5th Cir. Apr. 28, 2025): FRAP 38 Separate Motion Requirement FRAP 38 Sanctions Properly Denied for Want of Separate Motion — Request in Brief Insufficient — “Manifest Disregard” Is Not A Freestanding Ground for Vacatur of Arbitration Award in Fifth Circuit (Or First, Eighth Or Eleventh)

§ 1927 Sanctions Apt for Failing to Withdraw Claim Until Summary Judgment Hearing, Requiring Opponent and Court to Prepare for An Abandoned Argument — Bad Faith Established by False and Misleading Statements to Court — Raising New Argument for First Time in Reply Brief Does Not Warrant § 1927 Sanctions

RICO: Mail and Wire Fraud: Act of Emailing Transcript of Court Proceedings Containing Allegedly False Statements Made in Court ≠ Wire Fraud — Mailing (Serving on Opposing Party) Declarations Allegedly Containing False Statements ≠ Mail Fraud

Supreme Court: (1) Rule 11 Sanctions Available Where Affirmative Defense “Obviously Applies” and Plaintiff/Plaintiff’s Counsel “Lack A Good Faith Basis to Believe Otherwise” — (2) If Affirmative Defense Pled, Court May Require Plaintiff to File a Reply to the Answer Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 7(a) Setting forth “Specific, Nonconclusory Factual Allegations” Showing That The Affirmative Defense Does Not Apply — (3) The Title of a Statute And The Heading of a Section May Properly Be Used to Interpret the Text

FRAP 38 Sanctions — Sixth Circuit Usually Declines to Impose FRAP 38 Sanctions Unless An Improper Purpose Was Behind the Appeal

FRAP 38: Permissible for Appeals Court to Affirm Sanctions But Deny FRAP 38 Sanctions for Appeal — A Defendant’s Voluntary Cessation of Complained of Behavior Does Not Moot a Case Unless It Is Clear That The Behavior Could Not Reasonably Be Expected to Recur

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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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