Category Archives: Litigation
New York Modernizes the Debtor and Creditor Law
On December 6, 2019, the Governor signed a bill repealing Article 10 of the Debtor and Creditor Law (“DCL”) and replacing it with provisions contained in the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (known until recently as the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act). Until now, New York State remained one of only two states that had not adopted the UVTA. The existing DCL provisions derived from the UFCA adopted by New York State in 1925. In this blog, I have made some preliminary observations about the new Article 10. Many of the changes bring Article 10 into line with Section 548 of the […]
Distinctions in Federal and NYS Deposition Practice – Part One
The rules and law governing the review and execution of errata sheets and the scope of permissible corrections differs between Federal and New York State practice (and as between our own Departments). These distinctions will be discussed in a short series of blog articles. In this post, I am going to discuss the distinctions applicable to the review of a transcript by a witness. Are You Obligated To Allow The Witness To Review The Transcript? As a preliminary matter, under CPLR 3116 it is mandatory that the transcript be provided to the witness for review and correction. Should the witness […]
Individual Clients Using Employer E-Mail for Personal Communications May Waive Important Privileges Otherwise Protecting Those Communications
As a result of a recent decision from the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, in the Matter of Peerenboom v Marvel Entertainment, LLC, 2016 NY Slip Op 31957(U) (Sept. 30, 2016) counsel and their individual clients should reconsider their use of business e-mail accounts for the purpose of attorney-client or other protected communications. Harold Peerenboom (“Peerenboom”) commenced an action in the Circuit Court of Palm Beach County, Florida, alleging that the CEO of Marvel Entertainment, LLC (“Marvel”), Isaac Perlmutter and his wife, Laura Perlmutter, defamed Peerenboom by sending anonymous defamatory letters to persons living […]
Trial Smarts: Using an Evidence Log at Trial
Building or defending a case at trial is akin to putting together a puzzle. The well prepared advocate need not “wing it” if pains are taken to organize evidence before the trial begins. I started my legal career as an assistant district attorney. As a young prosecutor, I observed that the courtroom deputy or clerk completed a log during trial in which he or she identified exhibits when marked them for identification and noted when the exhibits were admitted into evidence. I obtained a copy of the “evidence log” and subsequently used one to keep track of evidence during trial.
Amended Federal Rules Emphasize Proportionality and Cooperation
This is the second post concerning amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”), which became effective on December 1, 2015. This post focuses primarily on amendments to FRCP 1 and 26 governing the need for proportionality. The prior post concerned revisions to FRCP 37(e) governing the preservation of electronically stored information (“ESI”), the remedies for spoliation of ESI where a party has failed to take “reasonable steps” to preserve, and remedies arising from “prejudice” as compared to spoliation of ESI arising from “intent to deprive”.
