​ANDERSON & OCHS, LLP

NEWS ARTICLES

The following excerpts are from articles involving A&O attorneys and clients that have appeared in local and national publications:

Rare Anti-Arbitration Victory In 2d Circuit, www.secondcircuitcivilrights.com, November 2, 2010.  BGC convinced the federal court to dismiss the case and send it to arbitration.  The Second Circuit reversed.  The case is White v. Cantor Fitzgerald, a summary order decided on September 22.  The world of arbitration agreements may not make sense to the uninitiated.  Who cares if the case goes to court or arbitration?  Actually, this is a big deal….Plaintiffs like White will fight like hell just to keep it out of arbitration. 

Mr. Anderson presented a seminar, with a colleague, on "Crisis Management for Boards of Cooperatives and Condominiums," at the 26th Annual Housing Conference held by the Council of New York Cooperatives.

Court of Appeals, The Year in Review by David D. Siegel, New York Law Journal, September 12, 2005, pp. S2-14. The Diamond case will likely be cited frequently in future cases called on to test whether the transaction involved is in interstate commerce, which answers in turn whether the parties must look to the federal or the state act.

                                                                                                                 , ADR Institute, April 4, 2005. The Court of Appeals of New York recently resolved two issues squarely in favor of the arbitrability of disputes... In Diamond Waterproofing Systems, Inc. v. 55 Liberty Owners Corp., Diamond reconstructed the façade of the building owned by [A&O client] Liberty. After the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks, an inspection revealed cracks in the façade and Liberty demanded to arbitrate breach of contract and negligent claims. Diamond argued the claims were barred by a six-year statute of limitations... Reasoning that "numerous out-of-state entities were involved with the transaction,"... The Court held that this level of out-of-state involvement triggered application of the FAA... The agreement at issue here required "any controversy or Claim arising out of or related to the Contract" to be arbitrated and... As a result, the Court held that the parties "did not express an intent" to have New York law govern the enforcement of their agreement and sent the timeliness issue to arbitration.

                                                                  by Tom Soter, Habitat, July/August 2004, pp. 55-57. In April of this year, the 1,728-unit cooperative won a $12 million judgment against its insurer...This was a big win, a long time coming…[Steven] Anderson, for one, is impressed by the board’s commitment. "Board members have put hundreds and hundreds of hours in, between the rebuilding of the garage and the monitoring of the litigation, getting involved with me, testifying at trial. There can’t be many co-ops in this city who have had such matters involving such an amount of money of such importance to shareholders over such an extended period of time. It’s been a colossal task.”

​                                                                                          by    Amy        by Amy Bourne, Verdict Search New York, June 28, 2004. p. 11. In January 1999, winter storms and precipitation caused a buildup of snow and water on the roof of a 90,000-square-foot underground parking garage located on the premises owned by plaintiff Seward Park Housing Corp., a 1,700-unit residential cooperative in New York…:The jury rendered a plaintiff’s verdict. It awarded Seward Park $12 million….Trial Length: 9 weeks Jury Deliberations: 2 days.

DJ JP Morgan Appeals Dismissed Suit in US vs Mexico’s AHMSA by Sonja Ryst, Dow Jones News, March 19, 2004. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank is appealing a New York judge’s recent dismissal of its claim to around $4 million in a U.S. account designated for debt payments by steel maker Altos Hornos de Mexico SA….Mitchel H. Ochs, an attorney representing AHMSA in the case, said that a victory by J.P. Morgan wouldn’t open up the way for more such lawsuits.

                                                                 by Tom Soter, Habitat, October 2001, p. 5. At the annual meeting in June, the board’s attorney declared that the proxies West had collected were illegal….West ‘s group hired Steve Anderson...to sue the board over the proxy issue. West’s side won.

Bright Side in a Co-op Sponsor’s Default by Diana Shaman, The New York Times National, About Real Estate Column, January 13, 1995, p. 14. “It’s a blueprint of what co-ops can do,” Mr. Anderson, the co-op’s lawyer, said. “The moral to other co-op boards out there is that if you have an aggressive, hardworking board and the right team of professionals, you can take control of your own destiny.”