Recently in Primary Source Documents Category

A New York judge ruled Monday that the state's mask mandate can't be enforced, after it was reinstituted by Gov. Kathy Hochul over concerns about a winter surge of coronavirus cases.

State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker, based in Nassau County, said in his decision that the state Department of Health didn't have the legal authority to implement the mandate, and that it was up to the state Legislature to do so if needed.

Rademaker's ruling strikes down the Department of Health masking rule, which also applies to schools, according to an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case.

The order empowers the defense secretary to "seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention under" a U.S. law that relates to preservation of election records. It also cites a lawsuit filed in 2017 against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. 

Additionally, the draft order would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write an assessment of the 2020 election. That suggests it could have been a gambit to keep Trump in power until at least mid-February of 2021.

The New York State attorney general, Letitia James, accused Donald J. Trump's family business late Tuesday of repeatedly misrepresenting the value of its assets to bolster its bottom line, saying in court papers that the company had engaged in "fraudulent or misleading" practices.

The filing came in response to Mr. Trump's recent effort to block Ms. James from questioning him and two of his adult childrenunder oath as part of a civil investigation of his business, the Trump Organization. Ms. James's inquiry into Mr. Trump and the company is ongoing, and it is unclear whether her lawyers will ultimately file a lawsuit against them.

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Robins Kaplan and Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff filed a defamation lawsuit against My Pillow Inc. and its CEO Michael J. Lindell on Tuesday in Minnesota District Court on behalf of Smartmatic and its parent company SGO Corporation Limited. The suit accuses Lindell of spreading disinformation about the Smartmatic voting machines used in the 2020 presidential election. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 0:22-cv-00098, Smartmatic USA Corp. et al v. Lindell et al.

This suit was surfaced by Law.com Radar, a source for high-speed legal news and litigation updates personalized to your practice. Law.com Radar publishes daily updates on just-filed federal cases like this one. Click here to get started and be first to know about new suits in your region, practice area or client sector.

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During the 2022 Legislative Session the Judiciary will submit to the Legislature a proposal to amend Article VI of the New York State Constitution which, in the broadest strokes, will create a simple, modern, equitably-structured court system consisting of: (1) a single statewide Supreme Court into which the Court of Claims, County Court, Family Court and Surrogate's Court will be merged; (2) a single statewide Municipal Court replacing the New York City Civil and Criminal Courts, Nassau and Suffolk District Courts and 61 upstate City Courts; and (3) the Town and Village Justice Courts, which will not be affected by our proposal. The proposal will also lift the long-outdated constitutional cap on the number of Supreme Court Justices and authorize the Legislature to increase the number of judges available to hear and resolve the three million-plus cases filed in our state courts each year.

We appreciate that the Law Journal has reported extensively on the issue of the denial of certification to justices over 70. We write to highlight several important issues in response to your recent article, "Advocates Await Fate of Popular Legislation, Fiercely Opposed by Top Court Officials, to Keep Older Judges on the Bench."

The pending bill is consistent with the constitutional mandate, and it will not minimize the role of the Administrative Board. The board will still be charged with conducting an individualized determination as to whether each justice who applies for certification is necessary to the work of the courts and is both mentally and physically able and competent to do the job.

Importantly, this law will prevent a repetition of the Office of Court Administration's arbitrary action in 2020, when 46 justices were involuntarily retired, without individualized evaluations, while only three were permitted to continue working. This action severely impaired the ability of the courts to process their calendars and exacerbated the backlogs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the Guardian and The New York Times report that a different, 36-page version of the PowerPoint circulating online is similar to the one received by the committee. Both include plans to declare a national emergency in order to delay the certification of the 2020 election and the outlines of a wild conspiracy that the country of Venezuela had taken over voting machines in a large number of important states, among other debunked and unverifiable allegations.

Though it remains unknown who first created the document, the Times notes it bears striking similarities to the theories of Jovan Hutton Pulitzer, which the paper describes as a "Texas entrepreneur and self-described inventor."

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A federal appeals court has upheld the religious-exemption ban pertaining to New York'sCOVID-19 vaccine mandate for medical workers.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday issued a ruling that allowed enforcement of the vaccine mandate against medical workers claiming a religious exemption.

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Amazon wants to launch another 4,538 satellites to provide wireless broadband internet under Project Kuiper, according to a fresh filing to America's communications watchdog.

The mega-corp was previously approved to send 3,236 birds into low Earth orbit by 2029. Now, it wants to expand that number to 7,774.

"Kuiper Systems LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, requests FCC authority to launch and operate a non-geostationary satellite orbit fixed-satellite service system as a part of Kuiper's second-generation constellation," it said in its application [PDF].

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been charged with a misdemeanor sex crime for allegedly groping a woman at the state's Executive Mansion last year. 

Read the full complaint here.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state court system, confirmed a misdemeanor complaint against Cuomo had been filed in a "sex crime" case in Albany City Court.

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The tracker explains when each funding stream or program was authorized, how it is designed and how much has been received and spent to date. The data will be updated monthly and will be expanded over time as more information becomes available. We hope the information presented here can be used to help New Yorkers understand how federal aid is used and to inform future conversations about budget investments.

Select a relief program to view its funding and spending, or download this month's data for all programs...

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Failing to understand technology is not just for outside counsel!

FTI Consulting and the Blickstein Group surveyed various stakeholders within corporate legal departments earlier this year to produce Law Department Operations Technology Survey: The Journey To Modernization, a rich report for those of us trying to take the temperature of the corporate legal department space.

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A federal judge in Utica on Tuesday sided with a group of health care workers who have filed a legal challenge to the state's COVID-19 vaccination mandate who are seeking a religious exemption to the requirement. 

The ruling issued by Judge David Hurd blocks New York state health officials from retaliating against health care workers who refuse to receive a COVID-19 vaccination on religious grounds. 

The vaccination mandate for health care workers broadly remains in place; the ruling affects those health care workers who are seeking exemptions based on religious claims. 

"The Department of Health is barred from taking any action, disciplinary or otherwise, against the licensure, certification, residency, admitting privileges or other professional status or qualification of any of the plaintiffs on account of their seeking or having obtained a religious exemption from mandatory COVID-19 vaccination," Hurd wrote in a 27-page ruling.

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Starting Oct. 28, a new $67 user fee will apply to any estate that requests a closing letter for its federal estate tax return. The IRS also continues to remind executors about the availability of the free transcript option. The new user fee was authorized under final regulations, TD 9957, now available in the Federal Register. Closing letter requests must be made using Pay.gov. The IRS will provide further procedural details before the user fee goes into effect.

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