Bugs in the Office
November 30, 2003
Consider the following situation: an employee anticipates that his employment is about to be terminated, for what he believes to be discriminatory or otherwise unlawful reasons. After consulting with an attorney, he decides to tape-record conversations with his supervisors, in the hopes of recording a "smoking gun" comment. A short time later, the employee is terminated, and he later commences litigation in federal court against his employer. In that lawsuit, is the employer entitled to obtain copies of the tape recordings through discovery, or are the recordings protected as work product because they were made in anticipation of litigation? If the recordings are discoverable, is the employee nonetheless entitled to withhold producing them until after his supervisor has been deposed?
And Then There Were None
November 30, 2003
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, like the state in which its San Francisco courthouse sits, has a mind of its own. Its contrariness, however, has also made it perennially the circuit court that the United States Supreme Court loves to overturn most. On the highly combustible topic of arbitration of statutory claims, however, the full Ninth Circuit beat the Supreme Court to the punch and overruled itself by holding that employers may require the arbitration of statutory claims.
Landlord & Tenant
November 30, 2003
Recent decisions of importance to you and your practice.
Index
November 30, 2003
A comprehensive list of key cases discussed in this issue.
Adult Use Amendments Held Unconstitutional
November 30, 2003
<i>Ten's Cabaret, Inc. v. City of New York,</i> decided last month (NYLJ 9/16/03, p. 18, col. 1), represents the latest skirmish in the long-term battle between the City of New York and owners of adult establishments over the city's efforts to regulate the location (and ultimately the number) of adult uses in the city. In <i>Ten's Cabaret</i>, Justice York of New York County Supreme Court held that the city's 2001 amendment to its zoning resolution &mdash enacted to counteract evasion of the provisions in the then-existing ordinance &mdash failed to pass constitutional muster because the city had not conducted any studies to demonstrate the need for the amendment.
Real Property Law
November 30, 2003
Recent decisions of importance to you and your practice.
Index
November 13, 2003
A complete listing of all cases discussed in this issue.
