Southampton Town will not have to pay a default judgment of $70 million for missing a deadline to respond to a federal lawsuit late last year.
Federal Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco on February 25 denied a motion seeking a default judgment filed by attorney Frederick K. Brewington, who represents East Quogue resident Nancy Genovese, after former Town Attorney Michael Sordi failed to respond to the lawsuit, which was served in August. Ms. Genovese, who was arrested at the Air National Guard base in Westhampton in June 2009 after she was found taking photographs at the entrance, is suing Southampton Town for $70 million in damages charging she was wrongfully arrested and detained there.
Mr. Sordi, who was the lead attorney on the case, failed to file a timely response to the... more
Federal Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco on February 25 denied a motion seeking a default judgment filed by attorney Frederick K. Brewington, who represents East Quogue resident Nancy Genovese, after former Town Attorney Michael Sordi failed to respond to the lawsuit, which was served in August. Ms. Genovese, who was arrested at the Air National Guard base in Westhampton in June 2009 after she was found taking photographs at the entrance, is suing Southampton Town for $70 million in damages charging she was wrongfully arrested and detained there.
Mr. Sordi, who was the lead attorney on the case, failed to file a timely response to the... more
But on the eruv - why is the Town scrambling to retain outside counsel? Weren't these suits filed awhile ago? Is this deja vu all over again?
Tenafly costs their citizens over a million dollars to defend an identical suit and they lost. Regardless of your position, precedent shows the plaintiffs have ...more a solid case which is being represented by one of the most prestigious law firms in the world. http://www.weil.com/practiceareas/
If the town loses, which they will, in addition to costing the tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend, the town and the trustees personally will be subject to considerable penalties and damages including but not limited to the the Plaintiff's legal fees. They will have to raise taxes or cut programs.
Pro or anti-Eruv - it doesn't matter. Our emotions, opinions, and sentiment will be subject to the law,
The first case is a matter of greed. She's taking money from her neighbors. If you think about it, Where does the money comes from, we the tax payers.
In the second case you can't allow one religious group to display a religious symbol on public prorerty and not another. All religions have to be treated equally.
Regarding the second case, the argument is that religious symbols are displayed all the time - often at the cost of taxpayer (St. Patrick's Day Parade(those green lines, police, and clean-up cost a lot of money), Christmas Decorations, a Nativity scene on the village green, etc.)
Ironically, the Eruv is invisible and doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime. So if you really want all religions ...more to be "treated equally," you would have to give the Orthodox Jews much, much more than just the Eruv they are requesting.
There's no case. I haven't met an intelligent lawyer who believes the town can win.
I agree that only the lawyers make-out in these cases, but Weil Gotchal is representing the Plaintiff pro-bono, so it won't cost the plaintiffs anything, yet the firm will be entitled to considerable fees from the defendants (the town, the villages, and the trustees) if they win.
The Eruv issue is a turf war reflecting a pitiful break-down in communication, some isolated anti-semitism, some unreasonable fears, and a lot of human nature. It's a mess, and the only uniting factor is how badly both sides handled the issue.
It's a drag. It's sad and it's going to get a lot of National and International publicity and make us all look ridiculous.
Taxpayers have to decide if they want to spend their hard-earned money defending a case they can't win.
One can only hope that whoever they bring in to handle the litigation gives the towns a straightforward assessment of the likelihood of success and potential downside if they lose. If they don't, this has the potential of ...more becoming an unmitigated financial disaster.
Having said that, I think their reaction to his severance package was ridiculous grandstanding - they town got off cheap on that one.