A Second Circuit panel has sanctioned an attorney for filing a motion expressing "anti-Semitism in a raw and ugly form" while the attorney challenged Southern District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s (See Profile) approval of a settlement between airlines and passengers who were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Judges Peter Hall (See Profile) and Susan Carney (See Profile) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled yesterday in Ransmeier v. UAL Corporation, 11-175-cv, that California attorney Bruce Leichty was effectively arguing that Hellerstein cannot be impartial because he is Jewish. A third judge assigned to the panel, Barrington Parker (See Profile), recused himself.
