This column reports on several significant representative decisions handed down recently in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge William F. Kuntz, II, denied defendants' motions for a new trial based on the court's decision to seat only jurors who had been vaccinated against COVID-19. Judge Ann M. Donnelly affirmed an order by Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks disqualifying a law firm from representing defendants Nassau County and individual law enforcement officers while the firm was also representing a prospective trial witness whose interests were different from those of the other clients. And Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, dismissing an action seeking the refund of a federal tax penalty, found that plaintiff's failure to file with the IRS a proper and timely Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction.

Criminal Case: Seating Only Vaccinated Jurors

In United States v. Elder, 18 CR 92 (EDNY, March 21, 2022), Judge Kuntz, denying defendants' Rule 33 motions for a new trial, held that the exclusion of unvaccinated individuals from the jury did not violate the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968, 28 U.S.C. §1861 (JSSA), the Sixth Amendment right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community, or the Fifth Amendment right to Equal Protection.