The article, complete with pictures of, for example, a custom Plexiglas booth for witnesses, is here.  See also our prior coverage here.…

Judge Gardephe last week ruled that the non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses found in the employment agreements for Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign were void and unenforceable.  The action originally arose when the Trump campaign commenced an arbitration proceeding against a former staffer, claiming that she had breached the non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses by filing a complaint alleging sex discrimination claims in New York state court.  The present complaint was brought as a putative class action…

The change will take place April 10, as reported by the NYLJ and Law360.…

Last week, Judge Daniels dismissed a putative class action against NYU over its decision to conduct classes remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.  He concluded the plaintiff could not identify any actual promise or agreement by which NYU stated its classes would be held in person:…

In an opinion yesterday, Judge Cronan refused to dismiss a case under New York’s consumer fraud statute alleging that the “Smokehouse” almonds (depicted below) were marketed in a misleading fashion because allegedly they are not actually prepared via smoking.   The defendant argued that “Smokehouse” refers to the flavoring only, but Judge Cronan concluded that, while a “close call,” the allegations were enough to survive the motion:…

Based on various orders recently appearing on the dockets, it appears that in-person civil jury trials will begin in May, under a centralized calendaring system. One typical order explains as follows: The Southern District of New York has reconfigured courtrooms and other spaces in its courthouses to allow civil jury trials to proceed as safely as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the centralized calendaring system currently in place, the Clerk’s Office schedules up to…

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting to note that this is SDNY Blog post number 1,001.  Thanks to co-bloggers Michael Keough and Jason Meade for their contributions, and the wonderful team at Steptoe for supporting our blog. A few additional statistics: The blog was started in April 2012. The most frequently-tagged judge has been Judge Rakoff (86) — perhaps because of his long hours —  followed by (now retired) Judge Forrest (65) and Judge Furman…