Steven P. Garmisa

In an epilogue at the end of a 126-page decision on a request for summary judgment that was “a monumental waste of time,” a district judge in Massachusetts with 46 years of experience on the bench “puzzled how to do better” in cases where everyone would benefit “from a direct march to trial.”Members of Boston College’s 401(k) retirement plans filed a class action against the college’s trustees and members of its plan investment committee for allegedly violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.Relying on ERISA …

In a case where the defendant relied on the controversial “closely related” doctrine to argue that the plaintiff was bound by a forum-selection clause it didn’t sign, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered the split on whether district judges should use “federal common law” when deciding whether a forum-selection clause applies to a nonparty.Firexo Group Limited, a British company that manufactures fire extinguishers, owned Firexo Corp., a Florida corporation. In 2019, FGL sold 70% of Firexo to Scot Smith, an …

As if there isn’t enough for trial lawyers to dislike about third-party litigation funding, requests from clients to review and perhaps join in signing litigation-funding agreements present complicated ethical issues under the Rules of Professional Conduct.A new opinion from the New York City Bar’s Committee on Professional Ethics provides useful guidance on “a lawyer’s ethical duties when advising a client about litigation funding agreements the client intends to enter with a funder.”The bottom line: “Litigation funding …

Three people who used to own a controlling interest in a defunct savings and loan institution relied on the broad definition of “property” in the Illinois theft-by-deception statute when they claimed $3.8 million in theft-loss deductions on their federal tax returns.The taxpayers were two brothers — Michael and William Giambrone — and William’s wife, Michele. They held most of the shares of Platinum Bancshares Inc. (Holding), the holding company that owned Platinum Community Bank.Platinum, located in Rolling Meadows …

In a vicarious liability case against a McDonald’s franchisee for an employee’s use of “a profoundly offensive racial slur” during a furious tirade against two customers, each side asked the Maine Supreme Court to apply a different version of the Restatement of Agency.The defendant asked the court to use the second (1958) restatement’s test for vicarious liability, while the plaintiffs urged the court to apply the third (2006) restatement’s revised version.“The provisions of the two restatements are not identical,” the …

The attorney representing Milagros Encarnacion, a pedestrian hit by a post office vehicle, argued that a letter from an insurance company — seeking reimbursement for $10,000 of her medical expenses — satisfied the Federal Tort Claim Act’s pre-suit requirement of an administrative claim with a “sum certain” within two years of the accident.Unpersuaded, a federal judge in New Jersey tossed the case for lack of jurisdiction.Although a police report attached to Encarnacion’s administrative claim said she was “unconscious and …

Sued in a Connecticut court under Connecticut law for allegedly helping a killer evade federal restrictions on short-barreled rifles, Sturm, Ruger & Co., a Connecticut-based gun manufacturer, argued it was entitled to remove the case to federal court because a “substantial federal question” was “embedded” in the state-law claims.The plaintiff was executor of Suzanne Fountain’s estate. Fountain was one of the 10 people murdered in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, 2021, by a shooter using a Ruger AR-556 Pistol equipped …

In a case about two “consumer loans masquerading as business loans,” U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger’s “textual detective work” was assisted by the sesame and poppy seeds on an “Everything” bagel.Jonathan Kaschak borrowed more than $170,000 from Bankers Healthcare Group and used the money to pay off personal debts. The “lender-friendly terms” for each loan included an interest rate that “was well into the double-digits.” Although Kaschak signed agreements saying they were business loans, his three-count complaint …

Daniel’s Law — enacted by New Jersey legislators four months after a disgruntled attorney found U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas’ address on the internet, went to her house, shot and killed her son Daniel Anderl and severely wounded her husband — provides judges, prosecutors and police officers with a remedy against persons who, after receiving notice of a privacy request, disclose their home addresses or unpublished home telephone numbers.Charles Kratovil, a journalist who writes for New Brunswick Today, launched a …

Relying on a controversial Illinois “use-it-or-lose-it” approach to liens, Navient Solutions — a judgment creditor that wanted to garnish rent owed to BPG Office Partners — asked a Delaware judge to rule that a mortgage lender with a prior perfected security interest in those payments lost its priority status.Navient argued that the mortgage lender had to “do more than just declare a default in order to preserve its priority status,” Superior Court Judge Kathleen M. Miller explained. “Relying on cases from Florida and …