Plaintiff Must Show Its Hand First in Trade Secret Theft Case-NY Court

  In a significant decision that was handed down on April 20 in MSCI Inc., Financial Engineering Associates, Inc., et al. v. Jacob, Axioma, Inc., et al., New York County trial justice Shirley Kornreich held that a software company claiming that one of its competitors had wrongly misappropriated their trade secret software that is sold [...]

One Sign Your Breach of Contract Claim Isn’t Being Taken Seriously

I have to admit it. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Apparently, after being served with the breach of contract lawsuit papers on his way in to the American Idol studio, the lead singer for pop group, LMFAO, Redfoo, was sufficiently amused by the whole process that he posed for pictures with the man [...]

Why It’s So Tough to Win a Quick Dismissal of a NY Complaint

  I have often been asked the following question in one form or another: “This claim is ridiculous. Why doesn’t the Court just throw it out, and dismiss the Complaint?” The short answer is, that so long as from the face of the Complaint, there may be a valid, cognizable claim, New York courts are [...]

The Fun Part of Being a NY Business Litigation Attorney

Last week, I received a fax from one of my adversaries that admittedly caught me by surprise: His clients apparently decided to discontinue their breach of professional services contract action against my client. In truth, I’m not sure what prompted this action on their part; and I may never know the answer. When my client [...]

How a NY Contractor Was Bilked Out of Its Fees for “Extra Work”

Sometimes, even seasoned companies ignore the fundamentals, and learn a lesson the hard way. In this case, the lesson was rather straightforward – if you don’t fulfill the explicit requirements for before undertaking additional work under a contract (a condition precedent), you may not get paid. In an opinion that was handed down on December [...]

How NY Courts Can Enforce a Contract – Even When It’s Illegal

A little over one year ago, I wrote about a fascinating case where a defendant sought to avoid its obligation to pay for goods that it received – and profited from – on the grounds that the underlying agreement it had with the plaintiff was based upon an illegal scheme designed to avoid customs duties [...]

Why Ignoring a Lawsuit in NY is a Really Bad Idea

Although I’ve been asked this question most frequently in the breach of contract context, the same principle holds true for lawsuits in general: It’s a really, really bad idea to ignore a lawsuit – or even a threatened one. Although there are several reasons for this, in my view, here is the most important one: [...]

Why Aggressive Advocacy Doesn’t Mean You Have to Be Nasty in NY

It is terribly unfortunate and disturbing that some lawyers seem to believe that civility and politeness are inherently at odds with good, aggressive advocacy. Let me be perfectly clear: I have no problem with an attorney aggressively protecting and pursuing his client’s interests. Everyone’s got a job to do. And there are certainly times when [...]

In Defamation Case, NY Appeals Court Pushes Hard for E-Data

In an opinion that was handed down yesterday in the defamation case of Tener v. Cremer, New York’s Appellate Division, First Department held that the trial court erred by denying outright – without a hearing – a plaintiff’s motion seeking to hold NYU in contempt for failing to protect or produce electronically stored information (ESI) [...]

Why Some NY Fraud & Defamation Lawsuits Make No Sense

International Shoppes, Inc., et al.  v. Spencer is a case from a trial court in Nassau County, NY that is scheduled to appear in tomorrow’s edition of The New York Law Journal that is the poster child – at least in my view – for litigation run amok.  And, lest you think that I meant [...]