The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Mauskopf, J.) granted today the Firm’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s action brought against our clients The Western Union Company and two of its former employees, and Western Union’s former parent and two of its former employees, pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Plaintiff alleged that defendants had corruptly instigated criminal proceedings against him in Rome, Italy for extortion, resulting in his arrest, prosecution and incarceration. The Italian criminal proceedings lasted nine years before plaintiff’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the Court of Appeal of Rome. With that, plaintiff brought suit against defendants in the Eastern District of New York alleging malicious prosecution, false arrest and imprisonment, abuse of process, defamation, infliction of emotional distress and that defendants had violated the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991. In granting the Firm’s motion and dismissing the action, the Court agreed with the Firm’s arguments that: (i) plaintiff’s choice of forum was entitled only “limited deference” given that he is a foreign citizen who never resided in the United States and his allegations had no connection to New York outside of a tenuous allegation that defendants conspired there; (ii) Italy was a suitable alternative forum for the parties’ dispute, as established in submissions made by the parties’ Italian legal experts; and (iii) the public and private interests weighed “decidedly in favor of dismissal” including because “New York has virtually no interest in the matter” and based on plaintiff’s “own allegations the vast majority of relevant evidence is in Italy.”
A copy of the Court’s decision granting the Firm’s motion can be found here.
Fishkin Lucks is pleased to announce that Andy Fishkin was named a 2016 Super Lawyer® in the area of Civil Litigation, and Steven Lucks and Zack Silverman were each named 2016 “Rising Stars” in the areas of Civil Litigation and Business Litigation, respectively, 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, Steve and Zack 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 United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Eastern Division (Breen, C.J.), entered judgment today in the amount of $2,372,251.80 in favor of our client, GTP Structures I, LLC (“GTP”) on its breach of contract claim against Wisper II, LLC (“Wisper II”). The judgment – for the full amount sought by GTP – followed additional briefing by the parties on the issue of damages after the Court had awarded GTP summary judgment on its breach of contract claim. (See Fishkin Lucks News; Dec. 22, 2015)
Fishkin Lucks won summary judgment today in the Southern District of New York (Furman, J.) on behalf of its clients, American General Life Insurance Company (“AGL”) and American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”), against a claim for death benefits allegedly owed under an AGL group life insurance policy. After extensive briefing, the Court agreed with the Firm that, notwithstanding Plaintiff’s arguments to the contrary, the life insurance policy at issue automatically terminated according to its unambiguous terms years before the insured’s death. Quite significantly, the Firm was able to secure this dismissal before any discovery was taken in the matter.
The Firm prevailed today on a motion to dismiss one of the more unusual complaints it has seen. The plaintiff, appearing pro se, made a series of rather bizarre allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo, several large financial institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, and our client, Western Union Financial Services, Inc., including that one or more of them had spied on celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney and plotted to kill plaintiff’s grandmother in the West Indies, to dissuade plaintiff from challenging Cuomo for the governorship. The Supreme Court of the State of New York (New York County) quite properly granted our motion to dismiss plaintiff’s fictional claims against Western Union. Given their unusual character, plaintiff’s claims had garnered mention in the local press media (see article here).
Fishkin Lucks and local Florida counsel secured today a directed verdict on behalf of Sto Corp. at a jury trial of a more than $9 million construction defect/strict liability (failure to warn) case brought by the owner of the Margaritaville Hotel on Pensacola Beach, Florida. The hotel owner brought the case in the Circuit Court of Escambia County, Florida, against its general contractor (who then impleaded a number of its subcontractors), alleging that it negligently constructed the hotel; and against Sto, which manufactured the finish coat installed as a component of the hotel’s exterior building envelope, alleging that the finish coat was defective because Sto failed to warn that it allegedly was prone to damage if large volumes of water traveled behind it. Following discovery that stretched over two years, which included the production of tens of thousands of pages of construction documents and drawings, more than twenty fact and expert witness depositions, and a lengthy mediation at which the general contractor and its subs eventually settled, Sto proceeded to trial with the hotel owner on January 19, 2016. Upon the close of the owner’s case, the Firm and local counsel moved for a directed verdict on the basis of Florida’s economic loss doctrine. The Court granted the motion several days later, directing a verdict in Sto’s favor, after extensive briefing by the parties.
