Joel Stashenko

February 02, 2011 | New York Law Journal

Governor Cuomo criticized the state's Judiciary yesterday for "not participating" in his efforts to close a $10 billion gap. "I respectfully ask the Judicial Branch to reduce its spending while continuing to serve those who seek justice," Mr. Cuomo said, noting that he had asked executive branch agencies under his control to trim spending by an average of 10 percent.

By Joel Stashenko

4 minute read

June 06, 2008 | New York Law Journal

The state's highest court yesterday upheld the recommended removal of an upstate judge for sending 46 defendants to jail when no one would admit to possessing the cell phone that rang in his courtroom. City Court Judge Robert M. Restaino of Niagara Falls has "irretrievably lost" the confidence of the public in his community, a 6-0 Court of Appeals concluded.

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

September 04, 2009 | Law.com

A man's purchase of two beers for his wife at a party the night she was run over by a sheriff's deputy's patrol car did not necessarily constitute "guilty participation" in her intoxication that precludes his recovery of damages under New York's Dram Shop Act, an appeals court has decided. The man's cause of action was reinstated against a bowling alley where he and his wife attended a Halloween party in 2002. His wife, wearing an all-black witch's costume, was struck and killed while walking along a road later that night.

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

August 23, 2011 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

4 minute read

August 13, 2008 | Law.com

A federal judge has ruled that New York must pay $104,191 in attorney fees to an infomercial pitchman even though his claim that the state squelched his free speech rights to promote his book against the health care establishment was ultimately dismissed. The judge held that Kevin Trudeau gained "prevailing party" status in his dispute with the Consumer Protection Board based on the judge's 2005 finding that there was a "heavy likelihood" the state intended to violate Trudeau's First Amendment guarantees.

By Joel Stashenko

6 minute read

November 28, 2007 | Law.com

A two-hour fit of pique in which a judge ordered 46 defendants into custody because none would take responsibility for a cell phone that went off in court should cost him his judicial career, the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended Tuesday. According to the commission, Judge Robert M. Restaino announced that "every single person is going to jail ... unless I get that instrument now." The commmission concluded that Restaino became a "petty tyrant, abusing his judicial power."

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

March 31, 2010 | New York Law Journal

New York's Hate Crimes Act broadly applies to a range of offenses, including religiously motivated property crimes, in addition to criminal acts against individuals based on race, color, faith, gender or other personal characteristics, the Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. The 7-0 Court, in a decision written by Judge Victoria A. Graffeo, upheld the hate-crime conviction of Mazin Assi, who acknowledged putting Molotov cocktails in front of a Riverdale synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur in 2000 in anger over the recent shooting of a Palestinian child by an Israeli soldier.

By Joel Stashenko

7 minute read

July 19, 2011 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

February 09, 2011 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

April 03, 2007 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read