Michael Riccardi

September 27, 1999 | Law.com

Sex discrimination claims may be submitted to mandatory arbitration under a National Association of Securities Dealers registration agreement, a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has ruled in a case of first impression. The issue of whether Title VII discrimination can be arbitrated is one that has caused a split among the federal circuit courts. In its holding announced last week, the 2nd Circuit joined the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions favoring arbitration.

By Michael Riccardi

3 minute read

September 24, 1999 | Law.com

Smoking is permitted in Michael Jordan's restaurant in Grand Central Station, despite New York City ordinances banning smoking in public buildings. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Stanley L. Sklar decided that the restaurant - named Michael Jordan's The Steak House N.Y.C. - served a transportation purpose, and that its lease with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could exempt it from City regulations.

By Michael Riccardi

3 minute read

January 12, 2000 | Law.com

An Upstate New York judge has become the second to strike down as unconstitutional a state law barring persons with violent felonies on their criminal records from adopting children. In so holding, Judge George J. Pulver Jr. said the Adoption and Safe Families Act violated three foster children's procedural due process rights in cases involving their custody and welfare.

By Michael Riccardi

3 minute read

October 29, 1999 | Law.com

They were not fully aware of it until late in a four-week trial, but attorneys were blazing a new trail in their field. The trial resulted in a defense verdict absolving a Chicago accounting firm of wrongdoing in its audit of Long Island, N.Y.-based Health Management Inc. and was the first held anywhere under the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which sharply limits the application of joint and several liability in securities and auditing fraud cases.

By Michael Riccardi

5 minute read

February 08, 2001 | Law.com

Bond traders may not pursue a legal malpractice suit against attorneys whose representation of a bond issuer's trustees allegedly resulted in the depreciation of corporate assets, a New York state appeals panel ruled in a case of first impression. The panel also said that the trustees of the issuer's collateral could not be sued by the traders.

By Michael Riccardi

3 minute read

November 11, 1999 | Law.com

Federal banking regulators may be responsible for the wrongdoing of directors and officers of an institution placed in receivership, a New York federal judge ruled, precipitating a split among 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal jurisdictions. Judge John Gleeson said directors and officers sued by the FDIC could raise, as a defense to allegations of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, the FDIC's responsibility to limit the losses of an institution of which it has become the receiver.

By Michael Riccardi

4 minute read

May 19, 1999 | Law.com

Pa. Supreme Court justices reversed an appellate court ruling forcing the state and city governments into the case for the purpose of litigating the funding of desegregation remedies in Philadelphia schools. The remedies, ranging from all-day kindergarten to reduction in class size, remain undisturbed by the court's decision. But, the justices' decision did render the school district without a taxing entity to fund much of the sweeping package of remedies ordered by the appellate court judge.

By Michael Riccardi

5 minute read

April 23, 1999 | Law.com

A unanimous Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state's sales tax exemption for Bibles and other religious publications, holding that a tax break expressly based on a book's religious content is a violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on establishment of religion.

By Michael Riccardi

6 minute read

March 07, 2000 | Law.com

New York's Interest On Lawyers Accounts law (IOLA), despite its plain language, does not definitively block all lawsuits alleging that bankers mishandled the accounts, a Manhattan judge ruled. Justice Charles Edward Ramos said there is no evidence that by passing the law intended to use interest from short-term escrow accounts to fund legal services to the poor, the Legislature intended to absolve banks from the common law duty of managing the accounts.

By Michael Riccardi

5 minute read

February 01, 2001 | Law.com

Child protection agencies have a responsibility to assist parents of children who are in foster care in an individualized way, and not with a one-size-fits-all approach, a Brooklyn, N.Y., Family Court judge has said in a ruling dismissing a petition to take away a woman's children. Judge Lee H. Elkins ruled that child protection agencies must diligently respond to the root cause of separation between the parent and child.

By Michael Riccardi

3 minute read