You find yourself in the following situation: you have been sued, and your insurance company has provided a lawyer to defend you, as stipulated in your insurance policy, per the insurer’s “duty to defend.” While this sounds like a great deal for you and often is, there are circumstances under […]
Category: Blog: The Westchester Litigator
Judge Halpern Denies Town of Carmel Residents’ Motion to Intervene Judge Halpern examined the twin doctrines of permissive intervention and intervention as of right in a suit brought by a telecom company against a municipality. The Court denied a motion to intervene by town residents. It found that the proposed intervenors […]
Attorneys serve their clients as advisors, counselors, advocates – and agents: The client, as principal, is authorized to direct the actions of the attorney, as agent, in accordance with representation. A recent Second Department decision examines the scope of that agency relationship in the context of a third-party claim that […]
CPLR 3126 provides the trial courts with broad discretion to sanction parties for failing to comply with their discovery obligations. One of the most drastic remedies is striking a party’s pleading, which requires a clear indication that a party’s failure to comply with discovery is “willful and contumacious.” Given the […]
As aggressive defense counsel, one of our first considerations when reviewing a complaint is, “Can we move to dismiss?” In an ideal scenario, the plaintiff has failed to state a claim, and a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) will dispose of the case entirely or […]