October 22, 2008

Attorneys Maryann Peronti of New York City and Gary M. Jewell and Stephen Smith of Houston, and their firms, were sanctioned $64,656 in March by Federal District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan for filing a meritless lawsuit against a stock trader. The lawyers and their firms then agreed to settle with the trader, Knight Capital Markets, on one condition -- that the 2nd Circuit first vacate the sanctions judgment. Thank goodness the Second Circuit (Judges Sack, Katzmann and Rakoff) refused to go along. See ATSI Communications Inc. v. The Shaar Fund, Ltd., 08-1815. or the story in the New York Law Journal.