A Steptoe blog about civil litigation in the Southern District of New York
The articles are here (NYT), here (NYLJ), and here (AP).
In the articles, Judge Scheindlin defends her work on the stop-and-frisk cases (which we covered extensively, see here). She called the Second Circuit’s decision to remove her from the cases an “intrafamily attack on judicial independence.”
As of today, Judge Scheindlin will be working
Yesterday, the Second Circuit reversed a decision by Judge Scheindlin granting summary judgment in favor of two plaintiffs seeking to confirm ownership of a 7.4-carat diamond under the UCC’s “merchant entrustment” rule (see our original coverage of the case here). The defendant below, the original owner of the diamond, had lent the diamond to…
So reports the New York Daily News. The article states that, in a letter to the other judges, Judge Scheindlin said she “will be’of counsel’ to a large law firm, and will spend the bulk of her time on alternative dispute resolution, working as an arbitrator and mediator, and doing ‘public interest work.'”
In an opinion yesterday, Judge Scheindlin denied class certification in a proposed class action accusing the New York City Housing Authority of systematically under-compensating employees based on their race. Among other reasons for the ruling, Judge Scheindlin found that class counsel was not up to the task:
Continue Reading Judge Scheindlin Denies Class Certification Based On Ineffective Class Counsel
Shortly before a nine-day bench trial was scheduled to start this morning, Major League Baseball settled an antitrust suit alleging it is anticompetitive for Major League Baseball broadcast out-of-market games only as part of a allegedly overpriced all-or-nothing packages. As part of the settlement, MLB will offer reduced price packages for fans to stream out-of-market…
The plaintiffs and Major League Baseball yesterday exchanged briefs in anticipation of a January 18 trial before Judge Scheindlin in a case alleging it is anticompetitive for Major League Baseball to divide the market for broadcasting games into various territories exclusive to the local teams, while allowing the broadcast of out-of-market games only as part of a allegedly overpriced all-or-nothing packages. (A companion case relating to National Hockey League games was recently settled.)
Continue Reading Parties File Pretrial Briefs in Antitrust Challenge to Baseball’s “Territorial” Broadcast Structure
Last week, an investor class action was filed accusing a a group of banks dealing in interest rate swaps (IRS) of collusion. According to the complaint, the banks have long dominated the market, and, in recent years, have worked together to stop buy-side investors from gaining the benefit of newly-developed exchanges that should have reduced their dominance:
Continue Reading Class Action Accuses Banks of Collusion in Market for Interest Rate Swaps
The SDNY Blog is relaunching as a publication of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. We expect to post several times a week on decisions and other developments in the Southern District of New York. You can find us right here at www.sdnyblog.com, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
Here’s a quick summary of what’s been happening in the Southern District while we were away:
In an opinion today, Judge Schiendlin certified a Rule 23(b)(2) injunction class in a case alleging that it is anticompetitive for Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to divide the market for games into various territories exclusive to the local teams, while allowing the broadcast of out-of-market games only as part of all-or-nothing packages like MLB Extra Innings or NHL Center Ice. The defendants’ primary argument against class certification was that the class would impermissibly consist of those would benefit from a dismantling of the existing structure — e.g., a Yankee fan in Iowa who would prefer to be able to buy a package of just Yankee games — and those who would be harmed — e.g., a Yankee fan in Iowa who would in all events buy the full MLB Extra Innings package but, if a-la-carte options were available, might not have the package option or might have to pay more. According to the defendants, these “winners” and “losers” cannot form a cohesive class. Judge Scheindlin concluded that this argument “fails three times over”:
Continue Reading Judge Scheindlin Certifies Injunction Class in Antitrust Challenge to “Territorial” Structure of Sports Broadcasts
In an opinion Friday, Judge Scheindlin largely denied Barclays’ motion to dismiss a securities fraud class action alleging that Barclays misled investors about its anonymous trading platform, or “dark pool,” referred to as “LX.” At the outset, Judge Scheindlin found it appropriate for the plaintiffs to have borrowed substantially from the New York Attorney General’s…
