Can an accountant firm avoid liability for aiding and abetting corporate fraud when they reflected the fraud in the company’s books and records, but failed to advise the other principals that it was occurring? The First Department tackled that novel question this week, holding that generally accepted accounting practices require an accountant to disclose fraud …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 4.5.24: When May Restrictive Covenants Be Enforced in Ordinary Commercial Contracts?
The Second Department, this week, addressed a novel issue in New York concerning the factors that must be considered when evaluating the enforceability of restrictive covenants in ordinary commercial contracts. Drawing from Court of Appeals precedent on restrictive covenants in employment contracts, the Court held that whether the covenant protects a legitimate business interest, the …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 3.29.24: Can New York’s Extreme Risk Protection Order Statute, Which Temporarily Removes Guns from at Risk People, Survive a Second Amendment Challenge?
The Court of Appeals this week concluded its opinions from the February argument session, but the most interesting cases, to me, came from the Second and Third Departments. In the Second Department, the Court rejected a Second Amendment challenge to New York’s extreme risk protection order statute that authorizes the temporary removal of weapons from …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 3.22.24: Can Out-of-State Residents Bring Claims for Employment Discrimination Under the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws?
The Court of Appeals is back with an important opinion on whether the employment discrimination protections offered under the New York City and New York State Human Rights Law apply to those who live outside New York, but seek employment here. They do, the Court held. Let’s take a look at that opinion and what …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 3.15.24: Can a Scrivener’s Error Take a Guarantor Off the Hook for a $44 Million Debt?
It’s not every day that the New York appellate courts face a $44 million scrivener’s error in a contract. As the First Department explained this week, when the contract makes clear its true intent, the courts may overlook the scrivener’s error to interpret the contract as the parties’ clearly intended. And here, that decision kept …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus NewsLetter 3.8.24: Taking Us Back to First Year Law School Contracts, the Second Department Answers Whether a contract Must have enumerated consideration to be valid?
This week’s Newsletter is full of civil procedure questions for New York practice nerds like me. The First Department tackled forum non conveniens and the thorny pleading requirements necessary to establish the predicate sexual conduct for a Child Victims Act claim. The Second Department took us back to our first year contracts class, with a …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 3.1.24: Must Name and Sex Designation Change Proceedings be Sealed to Protect Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals From Harassment?
The Court of Appeals finishes up its opinions from the January argument session with cases addressing whether the court system’s COVID-19 safety precautions for jury trials during the pandemic violated a criminal defendant’s constitutional rights. The Court also addressed whether the New York Uniform Commercial Code requires application of foreign law to determine the validity …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 2.23.24: Can the Presence of COVID-19 in Restaurants Qualify as Compensable Direct Physical Loss Under an Insurance Policy?
The Court of Appeals is back with new opinions about the meaning of the language “direct physical loss or damage” in insurance policies and whether a threat of litigation can constitute adverse action for a retaliation claim under the Human Rights Law. Let’s take a look at those opinions and what else has been happening …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 2.16.24: New York Trial court Rejects Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s Constitutional Challenge to the New York Early Mail Voter Act
This week, our most interesting case comes not from one of New York’s appellate courts (at least not yet), but from our trial courts. In Supreme Court, Albany County, the court dismissed Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s constitutional challenge to New York’s new early voting by mail law that just became effective in January 2024. Now, Congresswoman …
NYSBA CasePrepPlus Newsletter 2.9.24: ChatGPT Strikes Again, and the Second Circuit Strikes Back
I thought we learned our lesson the first time a lawyer cited cases that were fabricated by ChatGPT. Apparently not. Now, the Second Circuit has had to weigh in, send another lawyer for potential discipline for citing non-existent cases in a brief, and caution the bar that the rules governing attorney conduct already forbid the …
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