Fishkin Lucks is pleased to announce that Andy Fishkin was named a 2017 Super Lawyer® in the area of Civil Litigation, and Steven Lucks was named a 2017 “Rising Star” in the areas of Civil Litigation by Super Lawyers®, the premier rating service for the legal community. Super Lawyers® bestows the “Super Lawyer” designation upon top lawyers in the country, and the “Rising Star” designation upon “the top up-and-coming attorneys” who are 40 years old or younger. The selection process is a multi-phased, rigorous combination of peer nominations and review by an attorney-led research team. Lawyers nominated Andy and Steve based on first-hand observations of them in the courtroom, including as opposing counsel and co-counsel. Less than 5 percent of lawyers receive the prestigious Super Lawyer designation, and less than 2.5 percent of lawyers under the age of 40 are selected as Rising Stars.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County (Kornreich, J.), granted the Firm’s motion to dismiss today, dismissing as time-barred an action alleging that its client, the principal of an investment firm, had engaged in fraud, breached fiduciary duties and committed RICO violations in connection with investments made through his firm in 2006. Plaintiffs had brought similar claims against the Firm’s client in an earlier action in the state of Florida, which claims had also been dismissed. Plaintiffs argued that, pursuant to a provision of New York’s civil practice law, they had a six month window after the dismissal to re-file the action in New York, irrespective of the applicable statutes of limitations. At a hearing on the motion, the Court adopted the Firm’s position that the provision relied upon by plaintiffs did not apply when the previously-dismissed action had been brought outside the state of New York.
The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (Simandle, C.J.) granted today the Firm’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ lawsuit brought against our client, the state District Superintendent of the state-operated Camden City School District. Plaintiffs, four former principals and vice principals in the District, alleged that the District Superintendent fraudulently induced their retirement/resignation by misrepresenting the fact that a District evaluator did not hold the appropriate license to conduct plaintiffs’ performance evaluations. According to plaintiffs, the District evaluator’s negative reviews of plaintiffs constructively forced their resignations/retirement because they led to actual/impending tenure charges. Plaintiffs argued their “involuntary” resignations deprived them of their due process right to continued tenured employment in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because it was based on an allegedly material misrepresentation that the District evaluator held the appropriate license to conduct such evaluations. Plaintiffs also asserted various common law tort claims. Following extensive briefing, the Court granted our motion to dismiss the action because, as we argued, the District Superintendent is a State officer sued in his official capacity, and therefore entitled to Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity. The Court also found that contrary to plaintiffs’ argument, the District evaluator was not required to hold the license alleged by plaintiffs, and thus there was no misrepresentation regarding the evaluator’s credentials.
A copy of the Court’s decision can be found here.
The Superior Court of New Jersey (Camden County) entered summary judgment today in favor of the Firm’s client, a Fortune 500 specialty chemical company, in a significant product liability/wrongful death action involving alleged occupational exposures to our client’s solvents. Following a hearing on the Firm’s motion for summary judgment, the Court agreed with our argument that pointed discovery revealed there was no issue of fact that the Firm’s client’s products did not cause or contribute to the decedent’s injuries and death. The Court’s timely decision allows the client to avoid the 24 expert depositions that were scheduled to commence around the country.
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (Conner, C.J.) granted the Firm’s motion for a directed verdict today in favor of its client, a direct marketer of insurance products, on a claim that the client violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by making telemarketing calls to the Plaintiff after he had revoked his consent to receive them. Plaintiff had claimed in his complaint that he never consented to receive calls from the Firm’s client in the first place. However, prior to trial, the Court granted the Firm’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of initial consent, leaving as the only issue for trial whether the Firm’s client continued to place calls to the Plaintiff after he revoked that consent. After opening statements and the close of Plaintiff’s case, the Court agreed with the Firm’s argument that, as a matter of law, Plaintiff had not put forth sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that Plaintiff received telemarketing calls from the Firm’s client post-revocation.
The Firm secured a voluntary discontinuance today of breach of fiduciary duty claims brought in the Supreme Court of New York (Westchester County) against one of the Firm’s life insurance clients in connection with disbursements the client made under multiple life insurance policies valued in excess of $4 million. The life policies were purchased by a pension plan and trust and later transferred to a second trust (“Second Trust”) before the client disbursed the policies’ surrender values in accordance with directions it received from the grantor of the Second Trust. The Firm secured the discontinuance, pre-answer and before having to engage in any discovery, following a painstaking showing that the disbursements were entirely appropriate under the terms of the Second Trust and a related divorce decree that afforded the grantor of the Second Trust the right to terminate existing trustees and appoint successor trustees who then had authority to surrender the policies.
