It’s time for another Court of Appeals news roundup. Once again, we’ve relied on our own research to gather the sources this week but would welcome any suggestions that you might have. Please email us any ideas (twentyeagle@twentyeagle.com).
In their Court of Appeals Roundup for the New York Law Journal, William T. Russel Jr. and Linton Mann III discuss Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph, LLP v. Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., in which the Court held that conduct is “consumer-oriented,” and thus protected under General Business Law § 349, even if it is not intended for personal, family, or household use.
Also in the New York Law Journal, Craig Landy analyzes liquidated damages in construction contracts after the Court’s decision in Trustees of Columbia University v. D’Agostino Supermarkets, which clarified when liquidated-damages clauses are enforceable.
At Filter, Rory Fleming discusses what it would have taken to stop Judge Madeline Singas from being confirmed to the Court of Appeals.
At the Birmingham Business Journal, Avalon Pernell covers Cravath Swaine & Moore’s $500,000 donation to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute—a donation funded from an attorneys’-fee award in a discrimination case in which Court of Appeals Judge Rowan Wilson led for 25 years. The article quotes Judge Wilson, who called the case “among the most meaningful I worked on as a practicing lawyer.”
The New York Law Journal reported on a gathering in New York City to honor the late Judge Paul Feinman, who passed away in March of this year.
At Lexology, Michael R. O’Donnell, Michael Crowley, Desiree McDonald, and Andrew Raimondi discuss the proceedings in the Second Circuit in CIT Bank N.A. v. Schiffman after the case returned to the Second Circuit from the Court of Appeals, which earlier this year answered a certified question about the notice requirements under the Real Property Actions and Procedure Law.
Michael Zigelman, Eric Stern, and Andrew Lipkowitz report at Reuters on the split between Appellate Division Departments over whether an insurer has a right to to recoup its costs for defending a claim that a court later rules the insurer had no duty to indemnify. That split of authority, the authors note, may “mak[e] the issue ripe for review by New York’s Court of Appeals.”
NBC 4 New York reports that the State provided Chief Judge DiFiore and her family with Covid-19 testing at home last summer. The article notes that “reports of preferential testing for people connected to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration when testing was scarce are part of an an ongoing impeachment investigation into the governor” and that Chief Judge DiFiore “would sit as one of the jurors” in any impeachment trial against Governor Cuomo. A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration said that the Chief Judge called the Department of Health to report that a family member tested positive for Covid, “and these people showed up to do what they did.”
Posted on 2021-07-08.