Free: Newsbriefs

Law Firm Loses Bid to Collect 'Premium Fee'

A New York appeals court has shot down a law firm's bid to collect a "premium fee" on a divorce representation. Sheresky Aronson & Mayefsky's 2002 retainer agreement with Holly Whitmore had stated that the firm reserved "the right to discuss with you at the conclusion of your matter your payment of a reasonable additional fee to us, in excess of the actual time and disbursements, for exceptional results achieved, time expended, responsiveness accorded, or complexity involved in your case." After Ms. Whitmore was divorced from her husband in 2005, she orally agreed to pay the firm a $150,000 bonus on top of its hourly bills. But after she reviewed the hourly bills, which totaled around $350,000, she informed the firm she felt $50,000 would be a sufficient premium fee. The firm sued for breach of contract, but the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled the oral agreement was unenforceable and the language of the retainer agreement was not specific enough to bind Ms. Whitmore. The decision in Sheresky, Aronson & Mayefsky v. Whitmore, 117068/06, affirmed a ruling last October by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan (See Profile), who said the retainer agreement would have had to spell out how any additional fee would be calculated to be effective. Sheresky Aronson, which is representing Peter Cook in his high-profile divorce from Christie Brinkley, appeared pro se. Ms. Whitmore was represented by David E. Eagan of MacLachlan & Eagan in East Hampton. The decision appears on page 32. - Anthony Lin

Man Charged With Posing as Lawyer

A New York City man has been charged with practicing law without a license. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said yesterday that Robert DelCarpio charged a client $7,000 for allegedly representing her son in a deportation case. The son was ultimately deported. Mr. DelCarpio was arraigned Tuesday night in Queens Criminal Court on charges of grand larceny and practicing or appearing as an attorney without being admitted/registered. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. He was ordered held on $75,000 cash bail and is due back tomorrow. Mr. DelCarpio's lawyer, Donald Schechter, declined to comment. - Associated Press

Chief Judge Moves for Summary Judgment in Pay Hike Suit

Lawyers for Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye filed papers yesterday asking for summary judgment on her claims that the salaries of the state's 1,300 judges must be put on a par with the $169,300 earned by federal district court judges. The summary judgment motion in Kaye v. Silver, 400763/08, was filed with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Lehner (See Profile), the same judge who last month granted summary judgment ordering a cost-of-living pay raise for the state's judges in a separate lawsuit brought by four judges with the backing of their judicial associations (NYLJ, June 12). In yesterday's filing, the chief judge also opposed motions filed by Governor David A. Paterson and leading state lawmakers to dismiss her case. Justice Lehner in the four judges' case, Larabee v. Governor, 112301/07, granted summary judgment on a claim that is identical to one of three the chief judge raises. The winning claim in Larabee was that the linking of judicial pay to extraneous issues such as raises for the legislators themselves and campaign finance reform violates the separation of powers. Chief Judge Kaye, through her lawyer Bernard W. Nussbaum of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, also asks for summary judgment on her two other claims: that failure to raise judges' pay for more than nine years has left the state's judges with constitutionally inadequate salaries and the failure to adjust judicial pay while inflation has eroded purchasing power by one-third since 1999, while making adjustments in the pay of 195,000 other state employees, violates the prohibition in the state Constitution against reducing judicial salaries, Article VI §25(a). Since 1999, the annual pay of Supreme Court justices has been pegged at $136,700. The state has yet to file an appeal in Larabee, leaving unaddressed, as of yet, the question of whether a stay will be applied to Justice Lehner's June order that judges' salaries be increased within 90 days. The Attorney General's Office has until July 17 to file a notice of appeal in Larabee. That is the same date the motions for dismissal and summary judgment in the chief judge's suit will be argued before Justice Lehner. - Daniel Wise

Mistaken Identity in Civil Rights Lawsuit

Bronx resident William Hallowell filed suit in the Southern District yesterday claiming police and prosecutors blundered by wrongfully arresting him for an e-mail he never sent. Mr. Hallowell was working part time at the Riverdale Country School Library in April 2007, and exchanging e-mails about the return of a library key with his supervisor, Robin Berson, when Ms. Berson inadvertently typed the wrong e-mail address - to a Ben Hallowell. She received in return an unsigned e-mail saying the recipient had sold the key for "hookers," a "handful" of drugs and a gun. The writer also professed his desire for Ms. Berson and proposed a sexual liaison in the library. The lawsuit alleges that, on a complaint from Ms. Berson, New York City police, "Despite the obvious lack of evidence against him," arrested William Hallowell and held him for more than 30 hours. The complaint, charging false arrest and malicious prosecution, states, "Determined to make an arrest, any arrest, defendants bluntly violated Mr. Hallowell's rights by turning a blind eye to the overwhelming evidence of his innocence," and blames prosecutors for waiting for four months to dismiss the case. The Bronx County District Attorney's Office declined comment. - Mark Hamblett

Ex-Prosecutor Gets 2 Years for Sex With Teens

A disgusted judge has sentenced a former prosecutor to two years in prison for having sex with underage boys. Beth Modica, who admitted in April that she had sex with the teens in her Sloatsburg home, has been imprisoned since then. Rockland County Court Judge Catherine Bartlett (See Profile) told Ms. Modica yesterday she had become "a disgusting monster." Ms. Modica is the estranged wife of Spring Valley police Chief Paul Modica. They have four children. Three of the children - two teens and a 12-year-old - renounced their mother in letters read in court. Ms. Modica had been an assistant district attorney in Queens and Rockland County. - Associated Press

Personal Notes on Lawyers

• Yvan-Claude Pierre and Leon Medzhibovsky have joined DLA Piper as partners in the corporate and finance practice. They were with Fulbright & Jaworski as a partner and senior counsel, respectively.

• Roberto Grande has joined Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal as a partner in the outsourcing group. He was with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

• Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer has added two partners: Douglas Gilbert, an intellectual property litigator, and Claude R. Narcisse, a patent attorney. Mr. Gilbert was a partner at Ropes & Gray; Mr. Narcisse was a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig.