Among the decisions handed down in January and February in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York were decisions by Judge John S. Martin Jr. sanctioning a law firm for closing its eyes to a client’s obviously false affidavit and by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin refusing to enforce an arbitration agreement that she determined was unconscionable in substance and in the manner of its execution.
In addition, Judge Gerald E. Lynch filed an instructive decision on the scope and meaning of 28 U.S.C. �1391(a)(2), which authorizes venue in any district in which “a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred . . . .” Finally, Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. held that despite the observance of corporate formalities, a subsidiary that served as a mere department of its parent was subject to jurisdiction based on the parent’s contacts with New York, and Judge Jed S. Rakoff disqualified plaintiff’s counsel based on its concurrent conflicting representation of the plaintiff and the parent company of one of the defendants.
