You will receive additional instructions via email. Defendant, Gregory Q. They have waged a war of disinformation by deliberately flooding the market with false information about Compass. Realogy and a representative for the New York State Unified Court System did not respond to requests for comment. It was unclear why the recusal came only after the dispute, and not when Ostrager initially tapped Compass to sell the home in November. For example, at one point in the opinion, he refers to the NYAGs complaint as hyperbolic. He noted that the NYAG failed to offer testimony from any witness who claimed to have been misled, even though the Office of the Attorney General had previously represented it would call such individuals as trial witnesses. With respect to the testimony of a research analyst whose testimony the NYAG intended to establish the materiality of the alleged misrepresentations, Justice Ostrager said the testimony establishes the exact opposite of what the Office of the Attorney General attempted to prove. The testimony of the NYAGs expert witnesses, Justice Ostrager said, was eviscerated on cross-examination and by ExxonMobils expert witnesses., By contrast, Justice Ostrager said that the trial evidence showed that ExxonMobil executives and employees were uniformly committed to rigorously discharging their duties in the most comprehensive and meticulous manner possible. The testimony of these witnesses demonstrated that ExxonMobil has a culture of disciplined analysis, planning, accounting and reporting. He added that there was not a single ExxonMobil employee whose testimony the Court found to be anything other than truthful., However, while Justice Ostrager did make these positive observations about ExxonMobil, he was also careful to add that nothing in this opinion is intended to absolve ExxonMobil from responsibility for contributing to climate change through the emission of greenhouse cases in the production of its fossil fuel products. The company does not dispute that its operations produce greenhouse gases or that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. Attorney for the Defendants, HAIMS, JOEL CHARLES Part 61 Preliminary Conference Order. Highlights From The New York State Bar Association CLE Program On "I have a dispute with. All Contents Copyright 1996-2023 Practising Law Institute. Administrative Order re Cessation of Mandatory Mediation Pilot Project, JULY 2014 A New York Supreme Court judge is backing away from a nearly three-year-old legal battle between Realogy and Compass over an apparent conflict of interest. Will Corporate and Securities Litigation Follow SEC Adoption of Climate Disclosure Guidelines? Temporary Part 61 Rule Supplement, revised 4/17/2020. It seems likely that the trial outcome of the NYAGs case will hearten the class action lawsuit defendants; it could also strengthen their resolve on the issue of settlement. Please see our Privacy Policy. This matter is remitted to the General Clerks Office for reassignment to another Justice of the Commercial Division.. On April 05, 2017 a Unlike the NYAG case and the securities class action lawsuit, the Massachusetts AGs case does not allege securities fraud; the Massachusetts lawsuit is based on consumer protection laws, and claims that consumers were misled about how the company contributes to global climate change and about being an environmentally friendly company. Brady alleged that Justice Ostrager failed to adjudicate certain defenses, ignored evidence, and issued erroneous jury instructions. Barry Ostrager. Defendant, Robert J. Keegan (Cross-Claim Defendant) was filed Attorney for the Defendant, ITALIANO, OLIVIA JOHNSON Please wait a moment while we load this page. Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines. (LegalWorks 2014), the leading treatise on modern insurance law. Administrative Order signed by Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks re Large Complex Case List, SEPTEMBER 2017 Justice Ostrager noted a similar case in which Justice Lucy Billings of the New York Supreme Court rejected a motion to vacate an arbitration award based on an argument similar to Fava's. The . This site is not affiliated with his company, his colleagues, his clients, his relatives or any other institution or person living, dead, or yet to exist. Part & Chambers. LETTER / CORRESPONDENCE TO JUDGE - Plaintiffs' Letter to Justice Attorney for the Defendants, GUTCHESS, JEFFREY WAYNE The complaint alleges that the company sought to systematically and repeatedly deceive investors about the future impacts climate change regulation could have on the companys assets and value. Judge in Realogy-Compass suit steps down due to Compass listing dispute, New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager recused himself from the long simmering case on Tuesday, 3 months after his co-op went under contract with a Compass broker, What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments. Barry R. Ostrager is presently serving as a New York Supreme Court Justice in the Commercial Division. Proven unable to compete with Compass in the marketplace, Realogy and its affiliated entities instead have sought to stop the bleeding by any means necessary including lying, stealing, and cheating, the complaint read, according to a previous Inman article. Secretary to Judge: Attorney for the Plaintiff, BERGER, DANIEL LAWRENCE Attorney for the Defendants, CROWELL, NICHOLAS P In its post-trial motion, ExxonMobil asked the court for an order dismissing with prejudice the two fraud counts, and stating that the evidence at trial did not establish fraudulent intent or reliance on any alleged misstatement. Simply put, the company wants Justice Ostrager to say on the record that the NYAG didnt provide any evidence during trial that supported, much less proved, its charges of common law fraud and equitable fraud. Rle du juge : obligation de juger et arrts de rglement Attorney for the Defendants, SACRIPANTI, PETER JOHN LETTER / CORRESPONDENCE TO JUDGE - Letter to Justice Ostrager attaching He was lead trial counsel for Swiss Re in the highly publicized insurance coverage dispute involving the World Trade Center tragedy which resulted in a unanimous jury verdict in favor of Swiss Re, and lead counsel for Hanwha in a multi-billion dollar dispute with the Korean government that was the subject of a multi-week trial. Defendant. The index for this series can be Found Here. On December 13, 2019, Justice Ostrager granted the defendants' motion to stay that case in favor of the Federal Action. It looks like youre already a Select Member! Attorney for the Defendants, DANILOW, GREG A Attorney for the Plaintiff, EGGENBERGER, MICHAEL KEVIN New Opportunity in Supreme Court, New York County | Clerkships Attorney for the Plaintiff, DEGORI, ELIZABETH CAROLYN Ester en justice, est l'action d'intenter des actions devant les tribunaux et de se dfendre lorsqu'on est l'objet de poursuites.. En droit qubcois. Ester en justice - Dfinition - Dictionnaire juridique Furthermore, the NYAGs office argues that if Justice Ostrager decides he will make a ruling on these charges, it would have to waste additional resources to argue that they did, in fact, prove these claims. Brown (Cross-Claim Defendant) Attorney for the Defendant, BRICKMAN, NEAL The Uniform Civil Rules for the Supreme Court and the Rules of the Commercial 0653422/2019 (N.Y. Sup. after having survived the defendants motion to dismiss, Advocacy Group Sues Shells Board for Insufficient Climate Change Action. Attorney for the Plaintiff, PROTASS, HARLAN J. In response to ExxonMobils post-trial motion, the NYAGs office retroactively concocted a new rationale for its decision to drop its fraud counts during summation: Because additional elements must be adjudicated in order to find liability for equitable fraud and common law fraud, and all of the relief that the OAG seeks is available under the Martin Act and Executive Law 63(12), the OAG saw no compelling reason not to withdraw counts 3 and 4 in the interest of efficiency.. Kevin M. LaCroix is an attorney and Executive Vice President, RT ProExec, a division of RT Specialty. RT ProExec is an insurance intermediary focused exclusively on management liability issues. The complaint alleges that the company developed a measure the proxy cost of carbon to account for the companys climate change risks. Les personnes peuvent allguer un outrage au tribunal, mais la responsabilit de le dclarer revient un juge. Attorney for the Defendant, ZELBO, HOWARD SCOTT Attorney for the Defendants, STEWART, JASON ARTHUR He earned his J.D. Administrative Order re Mandatory Mediation Pilot Project, APRIL - MAY 2014 He served as an acting New York Supreme Court justice and was assigned to the Commercial division. Cobham Capital, Llc, Xxx, and Kabir Ahmad, Attorney for the Defendants, PALMORE, JOSEPH RUSSELL Attorney for the Plaintiff, HECHT, DAVID LAWRENCE Attorney for the Defendant, NACOUZI DE MELLO FRANCO, BERNARDO Forgot your username? Temasek International, Law360 may contact you in your professional capacity with information about our other products, services and events that we believe may be of interest.Youll be able to update your communication preferences via the unsubscribe link provided within our communications.We take your privacy seriously. Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". Did you know you can access live and on-demand programs and earn CLE wherever and whenever you like with our brand-new app? Let's Be Clear: The TRO In Jay-Z's "Roc Nation - Lexology To me, the outcome of this case seems very fact specific. Attorney for the Defendants, POOLER, AMANDA KAY After twelve days of trial, however, the NYAG failed to provide any evidence to support these claims. Richard B. Lowe III (Part 56). Attorney for the Plaintiff, Western Financial Investments L.P. All rights reserved 2023 The Real Deal is a registered Trademark of Korangy Publishing Inc. Tishman, Silverstein land refi on Midtown office tower, That empty feeling: Available office space in Manhattan reaches all-time high, Vanbarton takes big loss in $55M Streeterville apartments sale, Realogy slams Compass with explosive suit, Compass accuses Realogy of lying, cheating and stealing, The juiciest claims in the Realogy v Compass lawsuit, lawsuit brought by Stuyvesant Town tenants. As ExxonMobil explained in a post-trial filing, [The] NYAG crafted a narrative ready-made for the press, bursting with rhetorical flourishes and righteous indignation. As discussed here, the NYAG office filed its complaint against ExxonMobil in October 2018. Attorney for the Defendants, GHAFARY, QAIS Attorney for the Plaintiff, SABELLA, JAMES J letter-correspondence-to-judge-letter-to-justice-ostrager-attaching-memorandum-of-understanding, Maximum number of positions allowed between matching words, In Re Xerox Corporation Consolidated Shareholder Litigation, Sara Martinez Tucker (Cross-Claim Defendant), Stephen H. Rusckowski (Cross-Claim Defendant), Cheryl Gordon Krongard (Cross-Claim Defendant), William Curt Hunter (Cross-Claim Defendant), Joseph J. Echevarria (Cross-Claim Defendant), Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (Cross-Claim Plaintiff), In Re Xerox Corporation Consolidated Shareholder Litigation v. Xxx, Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (Cross-Claim Plaintiff), Jeffrey Jacobson (Cross-Claim Defendant), Gregory Q. Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more. Defendant, Stephen H. Rusckowski (Cross-Claim Defendant) The judge presiding over the three-year legal battle between Realogy and Compass has recused himself from the suit, according toThe Real Dealon Wednesday. Law360 takes your privacy seriously. U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Case Concerning the SECs Use of In-House Court, Securities Suit Filings Up Slightly in Years First Half, Nevada Prohibits Defense Inside the Limits Liability Insurance Provisions, Contractual Liability Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage for Fiduciary Duty Claim. 60 Centre Street, Room 232. Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox. Rose Ann Magaldi, Esq. Exxon Found Not Guilty of Fraud in Climate-Change Accounting Case By Jack Queen Law360 (May 27, 2021, 9:02 PM EDT) -- A New York state judge on Thursday moved to sever a financial lifeline for exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui as he fights a $116 million. Patricia Della Peruta, Part Clerk: Lisa Morisi Attorney for the Defendants, NACOUZI DE MELLO FRANCO, BERNARDO GENERAL PROVISIONS Rule 1. Attend Inman Connect Las Vegas to gain takeaways to achieve success in 2023. making the last major move in February 2021, Compass files countersuit against Realogy, The problem with antitrust litigation as a real estate business strategy, Compass, Sotheby's roped into latest suit alleging 'inflated' commissions, Compass dethrones Realogy as top brokerage in T3 Sixty Mega 1000, Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse would command $10M if it was real, 5 ways AI can revolutionize your real estate marketing, The stories and trends that defined a whirlwind first half of 2023, There are 6 months left in 2023. William Curt Hunter, Justice Barry R. Ostrager received his undergraduate degree from the City College of the City University of New York in 1968 and his J.D. New York County Courthouse Outrage au tribunal Wikipdia Brady v. Ostrager, 19-2949 | Casetext Search + Citator Attorney for the Defendants, In Re Xerox Corporation Consolidated Shareholder Litigation Attorney for the Defendants, ZELBO, HOWARD SCOTT Regardless of the outcome of this case, climate change related disclosures will remain a focus for interest groups and regulators, and changing conditions will make climate change issues even more important in the future. Justice Ostrager Posts Part Rules. Plaintiff, Sara Martinez Tucker (Cross-Claim Defendant) Justices Borrok, Cohen, Friedman, Masley, Ostrager, Scarpulla, Schecter and Sherwood all spoke candidly about their preferences and pet peeves in the course of motion practice (and beyond) in. In an even more preposterous stretch, the NYAG argued that, by failing to move for judgement directly following the NYAGs decision to rest their case, the company somehow conceded that the evidence presented by the NYAG was sufficient for their equitable fraud and common law fraud claims, and that Exxon was therefore not entitled to judgment on those claims as a matter of law.. Justice Ostrager Posts Part Rules | Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP Justice Barry Ostrager reported a conflict with Compass over a real estate transaction. Track Judges New Case, The Law Offices of Neal Brickman, P.C. The views expressed on this site are exclusively those of the author, and all of the content on this site has been created solely in the authors individual capacity. Some litigation or clerkship experience is strongly preferred. New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager recused himself from the long simmering case on Tuesday, three months after his co-op went under contract with a Compass broker. Although Ostrager didnt explain what the transaction was,TRDfound that Ostrager is the owner of a co-op at 930 Fifth Ave., New York City. He also successfully represented Andersen Consulting against a $14 billion claim by Arthur Andersen in connection with Andersen Consulting's successful bid to win a separation without cost from the Andersen Worldwide organization in the largest ICC arbitration in history. Ester en justice Wikipdia Emerging Capital Partners, Defendant, Jeffrey Jacobson (Cross-Claim Defendant) A Compass spokesperson responded only with a statement regarding the ongoing lawsuit. Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog, LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Community, The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog. This is exactly the type of disingenuous posturing that ExxonMobil warned the Court about: rather than concede its inability to prove fraud, NYAG now opts to spin a tale that no ruling was issued on the fraud counts and that it just dismissed those claims for strategic reasons. If NYAGs gamesmanship is permitted, regulators will have free rein to indiscriminately charge investigative targets with trumped up causes of action in the mediaonly to drop them after the close of evidence in court.. Please update your billing information to reactivate your membership. The lawsuit between the two real estate behemoths has had little progress over the past year, with Compass making the last major move in February 2021 when it filed a 77-page countersuit months after Ostrager dismissed Realogys claims in December 2020. Compass also claimed Realogy resorted to lying, stealing, and cheating to stop Compass growth. He is also co-author of Modern Reinsurance Law and Practice, 3d. Administrative Order Regarding Assignment of Certain Cases to Hon. We provide the highest-level ever current products and services to satisfy the knowledge and professional development requirements of our members and customers. In any event, and notwithstanding the outcome of the NYAGs case, I continue to believe that climate change-related disclosures continue to represent a significant potential source of corporate liability exposure. Inman reached out to Franco, Compass and Realogy for comment about Ostragers recusal. After initially overseeing a lawsuit brought by Stuyvesant Town tenants in 2020 against Blackstone, Ostrager recused himself last year, noting that his former employer had performed work for the investment firm and his pension is derived at least in part from the substantial revenue the firm receives from Blackstone.. Attorney for the Plaintiff, LEBOVITCH, MARK 60 Centre Street, Room 232 Ifg General Partner Ltd., However, the complaint alleges, Exxon frequently did not apply the proxy costs as represented; in many cases, the company used much lower proxy costs or no proxy cost at all. Justice Ostrager is "immune from a suit for money damages" arising from his adjudication of the state lawsuit against Brady. Ct. Aug. 21, 2020) ("In re NIO") represents a significantly favorable outcome for companies facing parallel claims in federal and state courts under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act . Part 61 E-Mail rule, effective 8/18/2022. On July 20, 2018 a Justice Barry Ostrager | Credit: NYCourts.gov, Justice Barry Ostrager filed the recusal on Tuesday, which is still pending with the New York Supreme Court. Attorney for the Defendant, GUTCHESS, JEFFREY WAYNE Realogys lawsuit, filed in July 2019, accused Compass of engaging in illegal schemes to gain market share at all costs and to damage, or even eliminate, competition. Realogy, parent company of Coldwell Banker and Corcoran, among others, labeled Compass use of commission splits and non-competes predatory recruiting and poaching practices. But now it claims that those charges were dropped for convenience, not lack of proof. In its countersuit, Compass said Realogys lawsuit was part of a smear campaign to spread false information about the company. Cr par Loi 1803-03-05 promulgue le 15 mars 1803, les deux articles suivants dictent une obligation de juger et une prohibition des arrts de . In the filing, ExxonMobil argued that the NYAG directly and repeatedly impugned the corporate reputation of ExxonMobil and the personal reputations of its employees. By dropping its two most egregious claims, the NYAG is attempting to deny ExxonMobil and its employees the opportunity to be publicly exonerated of these baseless allegations. 286. Administrative Order Regarding Mandatory Mediation of Certain Commercial Cases - Pilot Project, JANUARY 2016 ASSIGNMENT: This position is assigned to Justice Barry R. Ostrager. The complaint contains counts alleging violations of New Yorks Martin Act, the states Executive Law Section 63(12), and two counts of common law fraud. Attorney for the Defendants, HOUGH, JAMES E Prior to leaving private practice, Justice Ostrager was a litigation partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and the long-time head of the Simpson Thacher Litigation Department. Coalesce's Select Membership is no longer active. Will Companies ESG Goals Lead to Shareholder Litigation? Attorney for the Defendants, FEROT, ALICE CHRISTINE France E. D. Svistovski, Esq. And notwithstanding the outcome of this case, I continue to believe that we will see further climate change-related disclosure lawsuits. Hon. 15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion. letter-correspondence-to-judge-plaintiffs-letter-to-justice-ostrager-regarding-third-party-subpoena-discovery-dispute, Maximum number of positions allowed between matching words, U.S. DEP'T OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, Navaid Alam, Cobham Capital, Llc, Western Financial Investments L.P., Lalani Holdings, Llc v. Kabir Ahmad, Ifg General Partner Ltd., Kabir Capital Llc, Ifg Fund L.P., Mujtaba Mohamed Jaffer, Emerging Capital Partners, Temasek International Pte Ltd., Temasek International (Usa) Llc, https://support.trellis.law/boolean-operators. Firm Memoranda - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP | Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Attorney for the Defendants, JANGHORBANI, JAREN Justice Ostrager is a member of The City Bar, New York County Lawyers Association, New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, American Law Institute, Federal Bar Council and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. ), Create custom alerts for specific article and case topics and, I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email. Posted: May 9, 2016 / Categories Commercial, Court Rules/Procedures, Commercial Division Justices. According to court records, the last actions in the case before Ostragers recusal were several discovery-related disputes that included Realogys request for Compass to share agent performance data, Compass request for Realogy to produce defamation-related documents from Realogys outside directors, and the appointment of a special discovery referee. User promo code onward25 during checkout to save 25% on your Inman Select Membership. Justice Ostrager is co-author of the Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes (Aspen Law & Business 2021), a widely-used, three-volume treatise now in its 20th edition. In addition to the class action lawsuit, there is also the lawsuit brought against ExxonMobil in October 2019 by the Massachusetts attorney general. Brown, In response to the NYAGs retroactive spin on its decision to drop half of its case, ExxonMobil explained how these actions set a dangerous precedent of prosecutorial abuse: [A]t the time, NYAG offered no rationale whatsoever for the decision. Justice Barry Ostrager, who until this week had been presiding over an agent-poaching lawsuit brought by Realogy against Compass in 2019, filed for a recusal on Tuesday. After a three-week civil trial, state Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager today ruled, "The Office of the Attorney General failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that ExxonMobil . Justice Ostrager successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court the closely followed Epstein v. Matsushita case that arose out of Matsushitas successful tender offer for MCA, Inc. Letter,Correspondence As a front line trial and appellate litigator, Justice Ostrager tried many multi-billion dollar cases to verdict and argued scores of appeals, including two successful arguments before the United States Supreme Court. ExxonMobils case that investors were not misled turned significantly on the specifics of the companys practices in taking future climate change-related costs into account. Fearing defeat, the office withdrew these charges to avoid confirming that this case was a politically motivated stunt to malign a company, rather than an evidence-based attempt to redress harmed investors.