DECISION OF THE DAY

People v. Lewie

APPELLATE DIVISION
THIRD DEPARTMENT
Criminal Practice

Free With Registration: Court Rejects Mistrial Bid Over Juror's Missteps

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FEATURED COLUMNISTS

Products Liability

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Monday, November 9, 2009

By Michael Hoenig

Michael Hoenig, a member of Herzfeld & Rubin, discusses recent decisions dealing with whether sanctions under Rule 37(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure can be imposed upon the lawyers as well as the errant parties for discovery misconduct, whether a federal judge may consider for summary judgment purposes unverified documents or unsworn reports from an expert if the expert later provides an affidavit verifying his reports, and whether an admission of fact contained in an original pleading can be used at trial if that admission of fact was superseded by an amended pleading not containing the admission.

Corporate Insurance Law

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Monday, November 9, 2009

By Howard B. Epstein and Theodore A. Keyes

Howard B. Epstein, a partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, and Theodore A. Keyes, special counsel at the firm, write that last fall, the First Department adopted a narrow view of the prior knowledge exclusion, finding that the exclusion only applies where the insured law firm has a reasonable belief that claims may be filed against it as a result of its own conduct. In a recent decision, the Court of Appeals disagreed. Based on the Court's rationale, a law firm with knowledge of wrongful conduct by its client may find it very difficult to be comfortable not disclosing the information to its insurer, even if the firm believes its own conduct was beyond reproach.

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TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Free With Registration: Alleged Defamation on 'Gripe' Sites Challenges Businesses

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

By Shari Claire Lewis

Shari Claire Lewis, a partner at Rivkin Radler, wrties that in recent years, the courts have addressed numerous cases against alleged speakers of the negative on the Internet, and there is general consensus that service providers and other intermediaries are immune from liability for such postings and any tort liability. However, she notes, despite their uphill battle, companies continue to bring actions in an effort to block negative commentary from being posted on the Web.

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OUTSIDE COUNSEL

Have GM and Chrysler Sales Made Reorganization Requirements Obsolete?

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Friday, November 6, 2009

By Stuart Hirshfield

Stuart Hirshfield, a member of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, writes that in two recent monumental bankruptcy cases, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the sales of the bulk of each of Chrysler and GM's assets, outside of the ordinary course of business, pursuant to §363 of the Bankruptcy Code. The sales were approved shortly after the filing of the respective debtors' petitions commencing their voluntary Chapter 11 cases, and, he notes, in each case, the U.S. government played a significant role in effectuating the sales, through substantial prepetition financing and becoming a significant owner of each of the acquired entities.

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REAL ESTATE TRENDS

Free With Registration: Rent Regulation

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

By Warren A. Estis and Jeffrey Turkel

Warren A. Estis, a founding partner at Rosenberg & Estis, and Jeffrey Turkel, a partner at the firm, write that with its Oct. 22, 2009 decision in Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties, L.P., the New York State Court of Appeals raised many questions whose answers will be determined in the coming months and years, both in the Roberts litigation and, absent consolidation of some kind, in hundreds, if not thousands, of individual DHCR, Civil Court and Supreme Court proceedings.

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CORPORATE UPDATE

Free With Registration: Corporate Crime

Thursday, November 5, 2009

By Audrey Strauss

Audrey Strauss, a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, writes that in drafting Brady and Rule 16 requests, defense counsel must presume the government will take a narrow view of its obligations as being limited to the prosecutors' own files and, therefore, to unearth any Brady material outside the prosecutor's office, specific requests should be made for materials in the files of other agencies that have had an investigation of the matter or are in any way supporting or assisting the prosecution of the criminal case.

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SPECIAL REPORTS AND MAGAZINES

Health Care Law

Monday, November 2, 2009

In this Special Section from the New York Law Journal: "Medicaid Provider Compliance Programs Now Mandatory," "The New Security Breach Notification Requirements" and "Protecting Whistleblowers."

Also, in the highlighted article from this section,

Free With Registration: The Rise of Patient Safety Organizations

David S. Ivill, a partner with McDermott Will & Emery, and Amy Hooper Kearbey, an associate at the firm, write: The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 created a mechanism for the reporting and sharing of patient safety information amongst providers without the fear of liability. The act confers broad federal privilege and confidentiality protections to this information, referred to as "patient safety work product," with significant penalties for breaches. Regardless of the precise approach taken, establishing some type of framework around a patient safety evaluation system is key to ensuring information will be treated as patient safety work product, and thus entitled to the privileged and confidential treatment afforded by the Patient Safety Act.

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