This column reports on several significant, representative decisions handed down recently in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Jack B. Weinstein declined to realign a corporate defendant as a plaintiff in a diversity action. Judge Arthur D. Spatt dealt with various issues in connection with a motion to suppress evidence in a criminal case. And Judge Edward R. Korman dismissed an action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act relating to a murder in Panama.

Motion to Realign Corporation in Derivative Action and Dismiss for Want of Diversity Jurisdiction. In Hebei Tiankai Wood & Land Construction Co., Ltd. v. Frank Chen & Kirin Construction, Inc., 18 CV 2795 (EDNY, Dec. 21, 2018), Judge Weinstein applied the “doctrine of antagonism” to deny realignment, in a derivative action, of a party named as a nominal defendant, where realignment as a plaintiff would have defeated diversity jurisdiction.