Judge Schofield

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In an opinion Wednesday, Judge Schofield ruled that there was New York jurisdiction over a declaratory judgment action that a New York retailer, Rag & Bone, brought in response to trademark threats from a California volleyball company, Miramar Brands Group, Inc., finding that MBG’s campaign against Rag & Bone’s “Miramar” clothing line was sufficiently directed towards New York for case to proceed here.

The case focuses on Rag & Bone’s “Miramar” comfort-wear line, which it has sold for at least thirteen years. MBG, a California brand-management and licensing company, owns the registered MIRAMAR trademark for volleyball and volleyball-related beachwear. Last August, MBG’s counsel sent Rag & Bone a cease-and-desist letter into New York claiming exclusive rights and demanding Rag & Bone pull the collection. What followed was months of increasingly aggressive back-and-forth, including dueling letters between the parties’ respective New York counsel and an offer from MBG to license Rag & Bone the MIRAMAR name for ten years in exchange for a $10 million up-front fee plus escalating royalties. When Rag & Bone didn’t accept, MGS sent a wave of takedown notices to Amazon, Meta, Klaviyo, Nordstrom, and Saks demanding they stop carrying or advertising the Miramar collection.

Continue Reading Judge Schofield: A Cease-and-Desist Letter Plus a $10 Million Licensing Pitch Is Enough to Haul a California Volleyball Brand Into New York Court

In an endorsement today, Judge Schofield declined to postpose a major antitrust trial, despite lead counsel for a bank testing positive for COVID, given that counsel’s firm had several other lawyers available. The endorsement, in full, reads:

It is unfortunate that defense counsel has tested positive for COVID, but the circumstances warrant proceeding with the

…

Last week, the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Schofield’s decision last year to to deny the motion by Donald Trump, the Trump Corporation, and other Trump family members to compel arbitration of claims related to the multi-level marketing scheme ACN (see our previous coverage here).  Defendants argued that, because the plaintiffs had agreed to arbitrate any claims they might have against ACN, the same arbitration clause should force arbitration of any claims against the Trump defendants related to their endorsement of ACN.

The Second Circuit agreed that equitable estoppel did not apply:
Continue Reading Second Circuit Affirms Judge Schofield’s Denial of Motion to Compel Arbitration for Trump-Related Multi-Level Marketing Scheme Claims

In an opinion last week, Judge Schofield granted summary judgment, in part, to the restaurant chain Boston Market in case “alleging that Defendants breached the implied warranty of merchantability when they served her a meal containing what she believes to be a baby chicken.”

The dispute boiled down to whether the item of food (depicted below) was a baby chicken, or instead a somewhat unusual looking chicken leg.

Continue Reading Judge Schofield Shrinks Down Case Over Boston Market “Baby Chicken” to $11.63

Yesterday, Judge Schofield ruled that a claim for declaratory relief to prevent the White House and President Donald Trump from revoking or threatening to revoke White House press credentials could proceed.  The case was brought by PEN America Center, a nonprofit of association of media professionals, claiming that these threats chilled First Amendment rights for journalists (specifically CNN’s Jim Acosta) and also prevented PEN and its members from receiving information that would have been provided to the organization by these journalists.

The order found that the “Press Corps” claim, seeking declaratory relief on First Amendment grounds to prevent the White House from arbitrarily revoking press credentials, was properly pled:
Continue Reading Judge Schofield: Claims Over White House Revocation of Press Credentials and Security Clearances May Proceed

Two complaints filed this week presented putative class action claims on behalf of former campaign field organizers hired by former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg.  The first complaint claims that the staffers were promised employment through the November 2020 presidential election (even if Bloomberg dropped out of the race), but were then terminated shortly after the March 4, 2020 “Super Tuesday” primaries.

The second complaint describes the situation as follows:
Continue Reading Bloomberg 2020 Campaign Staffers Seek Promised Compensation in New Complaints

In an opinion Friday, Judge Schofield dismissed a RICO complaint alleging that “North Korean hackers stole $101 million from Plaintiff Bangladesh Bank’s New York Federal Reserve account and then transferred and dispersed the money to Defendants’ bank accounts and casinos in the Philippines.”

The central flaw was the lack of a “pattern” of racketeering activity…

In a decision July 24, Judge Schofield dismissed civil RICO claims against the Trump Organization and Trump family members, while allowing the remaining putative class claims to proceed.  The case (see our previous coverage here) alleged that Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization, and members of the Trump family falsely promoted the multi-level-marketing scheme ACN, reaping millions of dollars in secret payments to promote the scheme that led to would-be entrepreneurs losing millions of dollars.
Continue Reading Judge Schofield Trims Claims in Multi-Level Marketing Scheme Class Action Against Trump Organization

In an opinion yesterday, Judge Schofield dismissed a  case brought purportedly on behalf of various ERISA benefit plans against banks accused of fixing prices in the FX markets.  Judge Schofield ruled that the banks could not be sued under ERISA because they were not fiduciaries to the plans or even “functional” fiduciaries, but were instead…