#second-circuit

#second-circuit

A nonprofit group that advocates for law clerks has taken the rare step of filing a misconduct complaint against a federal appeals court judge, alleging she bullies and mistreats law clerks and that the courts' process for fielding such claims is broken. The complaint from the Legal Accountability Project against Judge Sarah Merriam of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit states that it is based on conversations with multiple former law clerks who fear retaliation if they come forward themselves.

In reversing the Southern District of New York dismissal for lack of standing, a split three-judge circuit panel allowed the streaming and satellite TV company to proceed with its federal claims. Lost profits resulting from a reduction in output represent a cognizable antitrust injury, and DirecTV plausibly alleges that its lost profits flowed directly from the output-reducing effects of the alleged price-fixing conspiracy, U.S. Circuit Judge Steven Menashi wrote in an opinion joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin.

Affirming a ruling by U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield of the Southern District of New York, a unanimous Second Circuit panel found that insurers Granite State Insurance Co. and National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh do not have to defend Texas-based gun manufacturer Primary Arms lawsuits filed by the governments of New York State and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester. The state and local governments allege that Primary Arms launched a marketing and sales scheme that helped launch a surge of gun violence in New York, according to court papers.

Second Circuit judges were perplexed by a Manhattan landlord's request that the court declare unconstitutional a New York City law requiring landlords who participate in Section 8 housing to allow searches of their premises. The plaintiff-the owner of a 48-unit residential apartment building-is appealing the dismissal of his case asserting the law violates his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Donald Trump now cannot claim presidential immunity to get off the hook from paying $83.3m in damages to the writer E Jean Carroll, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday, upholding a jury's 2024 award against the president for defamation. Trump's lawyers had pointed to the supreme court's ruling last year saying the president has immunity for official acts to argue that the damages should be overturned.