A memorandum order released today reveals that, in an antitrust case against Uber’s CEO (covered here), Judge Rakoff became concerned over improper investigative techniques that Uber (or its agents) employed.  Specifically, Uber hired an firm called Ergo to investigate the plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel, and, in doing so, Ergo’s investigator allegedly made various misrepresentations to gain information, such as claiming that he was a reporter writing a profile of plaintiff’s counsel.

At a hearing (the transcript of which remains nonpublic), Judge Rakoff ordered broad discovery from Uber — including from an Uber in-house attorney — and from Ergo concerning the investigation.  In the order released today, Judge Rakoff denied Uber’s motion to reconsider a portion of his ruling calling for in camera review of privileged material as possibly falling within the “crime-fraud” exception to the privilege: Continue Reading Judge Rakoff Authorizes Discovery from Uber Counsel to Probe Potentially Improper Investigation of Adversary and Opposing Counsel

Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that one of the world’s rarest postage stamps has been returned to its rightful owner after 60 years.  The “Inverted Jenny” stamp, printed in 1918 to commemorate the first airmail flight on a Curtiss Jenny biplane, was accidentally printed with the plane upside down.  The single sheet of “Inverted Jenny” stamps was broken into pieces and sold, with this particular stamp sold as part of a block of four stamps in 1936 for $16,000 (roughly $275,000 today).  The stamp was then stolen in 1955 during a convention of the American Philatelic Society, and had been missing ever since.

The successful return of the Inverted Jenny comes on the heels of the U.S. Attorney’s successful return of a Tyrannosaurus skull to Mongolia.

Today, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance filed a class action complaint on behalf roughly 5,000 New York City Uber drivers against Uber Technologies and its related entities.  The complaint alleges that Uber’s drivers are misclassified as independent contractors and that Uber’s compensation scheme falls far below statutory minimum wage and overtime requirements.

Continue Reading NYC Uber Drivers File Labor Class Action, Claiming Employee Status

In an opinion Monday, the Second Circuit reversed Judge Buchwald’s dismissal of antitrust claims based on the alleged manipulation of LIBOR (covered here).  Judge Buchwald ruled that the process of establishing LIBOR was a “cooperative” endeavor that, even if manipulated, would not cause harm to competition for purposes of the antitrust laws.  The Second Circuit disagreed:

The district court’s contrary conclusion rested in part on the syllogism that since the LIBOR‐setting process was a “cooperative endeavor,” there could be no anticompetitive harm. But appellants claim violation (and injury in the form of higher prices) flowing from the corruption of the rate‐setting process, which (allegedly) turned a process in which the Banks jointly participated into conspiracy. “[T]he machinery employed by a combination for price‐fixing is immaterial.”

Our previous coverage of the LIBOR cases is here.

 

Today, the Second Circuit reversed Judge Rakoff’s $1.2 billion penalty against Bank of America/Countrywide for FIRREA violations (see our previous coverage here).  The case involved allegations that BoA/Countrywide had sold faulty mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, originally brought as a qui tam suit under the False Claims Act in which the government intervened.  The Second Circuit’s decision focused on whether the breach of a contractual promise, without further proof of fraudulent intent at the time of contracting, could sustain a claim for fraud.  The Second Circuit held that it court not:

Continue Reading Second Circuit Reverses Judge Rakoff’s $1.2 Billion Penalty in BOA-Countrywide FIRREA Litigation

In an opinion today, Judge Furman largely denied a motion to dismiss the city of Perry, Iowa’s putative class action (first covered here) against the makers of so-called “flushable” wipes that allegedly are not flushable at all and allegedly damage the city’s sewer systems. Continue Reading Judge Furman Allows City’s Case Against “Flushable” Wipe Makers to Proceed

Today, Judge Preska granted summary judgment in favor of Steven Cohen on fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims brought by his former wife, Patricia Cohen.  The case was originally filed in 2009 (see our previous coverage here) against Steven Cohen, the former head of SAC Capital Advisors.  In the complaint, Patricia Cohen claimed that Steven Cohen had defrauded her during their divorce in the late 1980s by hiding assets using a Queens real estate investment.

Continue Reading Judge Preska Grants Steven Cohen Summary Judgment in Long-Running Case Brought by Former Wife

A putative class action filed last week alleges that Starbucks’ espresso beverages contain fewer fluid ounces than advertised due to an alleged company-wide policy of under-filling beverage cups.  According to the complaint, two representative beverages purchased at a Manhattan Starbucks included roughly 15% less volume than advertised.  The proposed class includes all persons or entities in New York who purchased latte or mocha beverages from New York Starbucks locations from 2010 to the present.  The complaint includes claims for breach of warranty, deceptive business practices, false advertising, fraudulent concealment, fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment.

The case is pending before Judge Failla.

The SEC claims that insider trading defendant Thomas Condradt committed perjury at the trial of his co-defendant Daryl Payton in breach of his cooperation agreement and, instead of the agreed-upon penalty of $2,533, the SEC is now seeking a penalty of almost $3 million.  The jury ultimately convicted Payton, even though the SEC was clearly displeased with Conradt.  (We have covered this case in several posts, see here, including Mr. Payton’s own troubles with perjury allegations, see here.  More color is provided by an article in the WSJ (h/t) today).

The SEC argued that Conradt had to be repeatedly impeached with his prior deposition testimony at trial, at should be punished in a way that deters others from doing the same: Continue Reading SEC Claims Cooperator Lied At Trial; Seeks To Up Penalty from $2,500 to $3 Million

class action complaint filed yesterday against Governor Andrew Cuomo and others challenges as unconstitutional the allegedly lengthy delays for adjudicating cases before New York City’s Criminal Court for Bronx County.  According to the complaint, a single case often requires dozens of court appearances and years of time to adjudicate — on average, 642 days for bench trials and 827 days for a jury trial.  The complaint begins:

Justice delayed is justice denied. The constitutional right to a trial—a speedy and public trial—is the foundation of our adversarial criminal justice system. The right to challenge the state’s evidence and confront witnesses in a meaningful and timely manner gives legal and moral legitimacy to the system as a whole. For people accused of misdemeanors in the Bronx, however, this right is illusory. Years of persistent delays in processing misdemeanor cases, court congestion, and case backlogs (collectively, “Court Delay”) in the New York City Criminal Court, Bronx County (“Bronx Criminal Court”) have fatally undermined the right to trial and the right to a speedy trial for the tens of thousands of people charged with low-level offenses in the Bronx. The system more closely resembles punishment than due process.

The case is before Judge Daniels.