This month we discuss another opinion by the Court of Appeals in the dispute between Bluebird Partners LP, purchaser of bonds issued by Continental Airlines prior to its bankruptcy, and the bond trustees. The opinion resolved one issue relating to the financially significant question of whether causes of action arising out of bonds are transferred with the bonds when they are sold or remain with transferor, finding that the causes of action may be asserted by the transferee pursuant to the General Obligations Law (GOL). The Court remanded to case to the Appellate Division to resolve another issue, however, whether a federal statute pre-empts that provision of the GOL and mandates that the claims remain with the bond transferor.
We also address some recent criminal cases. Two aspects of jury selection were discussed by the opinions in People v. Brown. First, the Court divided over the principal issue on appeal, defendant’s “Batson” challenge to the prosecution’s exercise of peremptory challenges. Second, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye wrote a concurring opinion that decried New York’s “exceedingly, perhaps uniquely, high number of peremptory challenges” in criminal actions. The decision also addressed expert testimony concerning general operating methods and terminology in street-level drug trade.
