CourtAlert - Tip of the Week
Federal Rule Amendment &
Reassignment News from New York County Supreme.
September 25, 2008
Subject: Federal Rule Amendment &
Reassignment News from New York County Supreme.
Federal Rule Amendment
A new Federal Rule of
Evidence 502 was enacted on September 19, focusing on inadvertent
disclosure of attorney-client privileged material. The new law limits the
consequences of inadvertent disclosure, potentially lowering discovery
costs and limiting the need for exhaustive "privilege review."
If you would like to see the text of FRE 502 please <click here>:
Reassignment News from New York County
Effective October 6,
2008, Hon. Laura Visitacion-Lewis will preside
over guardianship matters in Part 26. Certain post-judgment matrimonial
applications that were previously pending in Part 26 may be retained in
the inventory of that Part pending disposition of applications or until
further notice. Other applications of this type have been and will be
reassigned to Hon. Deborah Kaplan (Matrimonial IAS Part 20). These
matters will be rescheduled by Part 20 and counsel will be notified by
the court.
Counsel are reminded
that, should adjournments of motions in the Motion Support Office
Courtroom be sought in any of the cases referred to above, the Courtroom
accepts stipulations of adjournment by e-mail.
The Governor recently
appointed the Honorable Helen E. Freedman to the Appellate Division,
First Department. Accordingly, changes have been and are being made in
the inventory of Part 39, which had been assigned to Justice Freedman,
and in certain other inventories, as follows.
The Honorable Sherry
Klein Heitler will maintain her current
assignment to the Appellate Term, First Department, and, in addition, is
now assigned to the Center for Complex Litigation, to which Justice
Freedman had been assigned. All asbestos cases heretofore assigned to
Justice Freedman have been transferred to Justice Heitler
in the Center. Justice Heitler’s Part
will be Part 30.
All guardianship
cases previously assigned to Justice Heitler,
as well as those previously assigned to the Honorable Rosalyn H. Richter
(Part 24), have been reassigned to the Honorable Shlomo
Hagler (Part 25).
Certain personal
injury cases brought against Bausch & Lomb, Inc. were assigned to
Justice Freedman by Administrative Order dated January 8, 2007 (available
on the court’s website at www.nycourts.gov/supctmanh
). That order also designated Justice Freedman as the Coordinating
Justice for the coordination of such cases pursuant to order of the
Litigation Coordinating Panel. By Supplemental Administrative Order dated
September 5, 2008, all such cases have been transferred to the Honorable
Shirley W. Kornreich (Part 54), who is assigned
to the Center for Complex Litigation. Pursuant to that Supplemental
Order, Justice Kornreich also replaces Justice
Freedman as Coordinating Justice for these cases.
All Commercial
Division cases that previously were assigned to Justice Freedman will be
assigned to the Honorable Barbara R. Kapnick
commencing September 15, 2008. Justice Kapnick’s
Part will be designated Part 39. Any dates from September 15, 2008 onward
that were previously set by Justice Freedman for conferences or arguments
in Part 39 in Commercial Division cases shall remain in effect, at the
times previously set, unless otherwise directed by Justice Kapnick.
A determination will
be made hereafter as to the reassignment of the inventory of Justice Kapnick’s previous Part, Part 12. Any motions
that are currently pending in the Motion Support Office Courtroom (Room
130) in Part 12 cases, or that are made returnable in the Courtroom
hereafter but prior to reassignment of these cases, shall be adjourned by
the staff of the Courtroom pending such reassignment. Any appearances in
Part 12 previously scheduled by Justice Kapnick
for the period between now and reassignment of that inventory shall be
adjourned without date pending the reassignment, with the following
exception: certain cases were scheduled to appear for trial in Part 12 on
dates between September 15 and October 27, 2008 previously fixed by
Justice Kapnick. These cases are being
transferred to Part 39. The trial dates previously set shall remain in
effect. Certain mass tort cases other than those described above were
assigned to Justice Freedman’s inventory, namely the PPA cases, Rezulin cases and Diet Drug cases. The court is
conducting a status inquiry with regard to these cases. All of these
cases that have not settled shall be transferred to the Honorable Marcy
S. Friedman (Part 57) of the Center for Complex Litigation. Any
appearances previously scheduled in Part 39 by Justice Freedman in these
cases shall be adjourned without date or rescheduled by the court unless
otherwise directed.
Any other cases that may
remain from Justice Freedman’s inventory shall be reassigned
shortly and information regarding such changes shall be provided.
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