Governor Cuomo signs law approving Ovid-Lodi Court consolidation

Finger Lakes Daily News:

Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed off on a measure that will consolidate the Ovid and Lodi town courts after the first of the year. Following a study this spring ... each town approved doing away with separate judges and provide for the election of a single justice in November to a 4 year term. It's expected that judge would operate out of the Lodi Town Municipal building.

The Town of Ovid position has been vacant since the death of Town Justice Wayne Ewing in December.

More on the court consolidation process here

Ovid, Lodi Boards back court consolidation

FingerLakes1.com Local Network

The Towns of Ovid and Lodi have passed a joint resolution to consolidate their two town courts into a single position.

The resolution follows a study conducted by representatives of both towns. Town Supervisor Walt Prouty and Town Attorney Steven Getman represented Ovid.

The resolution will now be forwarded to the New York State legislature for final approval.

The complete study supporting the court consolidation is available here.

Court of Appeals Issues New Decisions

New York State’s highest court has issued a number of decisions this week on civil and criminal law.

The cases cover a number of issues, including:

• the doctrine of equitable estoppel in child support/paternity cases;
• sufficiency of evidence in a case of manslaughter in the first degree;
• the application of the workers’ compensation cap when an employee has received several awards for different injuries;
• the sentencing ranges courts must adhere to when imposing a determinate sentence of imprisonment on a first time felony offender.

The decisions are available to the public and can be found at the court’s website.

Federal courts again experiment with allowing cameras

From the Citizen Media Law Project:

The program, which was approved by the U.S. Judicial Conference last year and allows court-operated cameras to cover civil proceedings in 14 federal trial courts, is just the latest chapter in the long saga on the question of camera coverage of federal trial courts.

This is not the first time that the federal courts have experimented with camera coverage of their proceedings. From 1991 through 1994, the federal courts conducted a limited test of camera coverage of civil trials in eight federal district courts, which led to a recommendation that federal courts allow televised proceedings. But the Judicial Conference -- which sets policies for all federal courts except the U.S. Supreme Court, which sets its own rules -- rejected this recommendation, concluding in 1994 that “the intimidating effect of cameras on some witnesses and jurors was a cause for serious concern.”

The Judicial Conference then relented a bit, deciding in March 1996 to allow each federal Circuit to decide the issue for itself and the district courts in its geographic area, while strongly urging the Circuits to follow the Conference’s 1994 policy.

New Decisions from the N.Y. Court of Appeals

New York State’s highest court has issued a number of decisions this week on civil and criminal law.

The cases cover a number of issues, including the privacy of medical records, a criminal defendant's right to a public trial and whether the police are required to interview witnesses after overhearing potentially exculpatory statements.

Decisions of the New York State Court of Appeals are binding on all lower courts within the state. The decisions are available to the public and can be found at the court’s website.