Monday, September 6, 2021
Second Amendment Legal Update: September, 2021
A monthly update, prepared for the Schuyler County Chapter of S.C.O.P.E. NY, a statewide 501(c)4 organization dedicated to preserving the 2nd Amendment rights for the residents of New York State.
For a complete PDF copy of this month's update, click here.
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Law Day 2022 Theme Announced
The American Bar Association has announced the theme for Law Day 2022, "Toward a More Perfect Union: The Constitution in Times of Change.”
The Constitution is a dynamic document, as it not only outlines a blueprint for government, but also delegates power, articulates rights, and offers mechanisms for change. It is neither perfect, nor exhaustive, as our nation’s history makes clear. Legislation, court rulings, amendments, lawyers, and “we the people” have built upon those original words across generations to attempt to make the “more perfect Union” more real. That effort continues today, as contemporary leaders and everyday citizens raise their voices as loud as ever to fulfill the promise of the Constitution. Defining and refining those words of the Constitution might be our oldest national tradition, and how each of us works—together—toward a more perfect Union.
For more information, click here.
Monday, August 9, 2021
New York State Releases Caseload Standards for Family Court Public Defense lawyers
The New York State Officie of Indigent Legal Services (OILS) has released Caseload Standards for Parents’ Attorneys in New York State Family Court Mandated 
Representation Cases. The standards are intended to cover public defenders, assigned counsel and other attorneys assigned to provide mandated representation for people who cannot afford their own lawyer in various types of family court cases.
The standards include both maximum annual case assignment limits and a minimum average number of hours attorneys should spend on each case.
Cases are broken down into thirteen case categories:
• paternity;Approval of the standards is contingent upon the availability of State funding to implement the standards. The full report can be found here.
• willful violation of support;
• willful violation other;
• family offense;
• guardianship;
• violation of conditional surrender;
• adoption;
• modification of prior order;
• custody/visitation;
• conditional surrender;
• neglect;
• abuse; and
• TPRs (termination of parental rights).
Monday, August 2, 2021
Second Amendment Legal Update: August, 2021
A monthly update, prepared for the Schuyler County Chapter of S.C.O.P.E. NY, a statewide 501(c)4 organization dedicated to preserving the 2nd Amendment rights for the residents of New York State.
For a complete PDF copy of this month's update, click here.
Monday, July 26, 2021
New law protects New Yorkers from “spam” text messages.
New York state officials have enacted new legislation, expanding New York State’s definition of telemarketing to include text messages.
New Yorkers have protection against unwanted robocalls under state law, but texting was not previously defined as telemarketing, exempting it from those protections. This legislation closes that loophole.
State law originally protected New Yorkers against unwanted robocalls, but text messages were not included under those protections. That stipulation has changed. Now, the definition of “telemarketing” as it pertains to state law also encompasses text messages.
Many New Yorkers saw a rise in unwanted calls and text messages from telemarketers during the pandemic.
A complete copy of the new law can be found here.
Monday, July 19, 2021
Leasing your land for solar power? Know your rights before you sign.
Solar power can offer New Yorkers many potential benefits, including saving money through reduced electricity bills, creating stability during periods of electric rate changes and contributing to a cleaner and healthier community by reducing our carbon footprint. With more and more state residents considering solar power, a number of private companies are looking to develop and initiate construction of new solar projects across the state, including in Schuyler County.
Recently, a number of Schuyler County landowners have reported receiving proposals from one or more energy firms, seeking land for solar facility development. These proposals offer landowners money for an option to lease or purchase land to develop, build and operate a solar power generation and storage facility on the premises. Payments may include an option signing bonus, annual option payments and potential annual lease payments. In some cases, payments may net landowners thousands of dollars.
While the terms of these options may seem very attractive, these agreements are legal documents with potential long-term implications, potentially both positive and negative. Therefore, you should proceed carefully before signing them.
For more information, click here.
Saturday, July 17, 2021
Schuyler County, Others, File Generic Drug Price Lawsuit
Schuyler County has joined with over two dozen municipal governments, and others, in suing the makers of generic drugs over alleged price-fixing.
The county, along with local governments in New York and elsewhere, filed an over 1000-page Summons and Complaint on June 30 against more than fifty companies, seeking injunctive relief, damages, and relief from harms that the complaint alleges resulted from an unlawful agreement among the defendants to allocate customers, rig bids, and fix, raise, maintain, and/or stabilize the prices of all of their generic pharmaceutical products,
The lawsuit follows a vote by the County Legislature in 2020, authorizing County Attorney Steven Getman to join forces with Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a New York City law firm “in the investigation and/or prosecution of any legal claim against manufactures of generic pharmaceuticals and/or their executives based upon their actions in fixing prices, allocating markets, and engaging in other antitrust violations or other wrongdoing with respect to generic pharmaceuticals.”
According to Getman, the lawsuit is pursuing claims in several areas. These include increased health insurance premiums for county employees, additional workers’ compensation costs and higher costs of pharmaceuticals purchased for use by the county jail, all based upon artificially inflated generic drug prices.
Various government agencies have already commenced suit, Getman said, alleging violations of state and Federal antitrust laws and consumer protection statutes.
“In 2014, the Department of Justice began an investigation into the pricing of various generic pharmaceuticals,” Getman explained. “In the wake of the Federal investigation, in 2017, the state attorneys’ general of 48 states brought a civil action alleging price fixing, market division, and other antitrust violations by 16 defendant pharmaceutical companies related to fifteen (15) generic prescription drugs.”
“As alleged, the defendants' anticompetitive conduct falls principally into two categories. First, the defendants, allegedly communicated with each other to determine and agree on how much market share each would control and which customers each competitor was entitled to. Second, competitors allegedly communicated -- either in person, by telephone, or by text message -- and agreed to collectively raise and/or maintain prices for a particular generic drug.”
The lawsuits, Getman said, now involve over 100 generic drugs and more than fifty pharmaceutical defendants, including Teva, Sandoz, Mylan, Pfizer, Actavis, Amneal, Apotex, Aurobindo, Breckenridge, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Glenmark, Greenstone, Lannett, Lupin, Par, Taro USA, Upsher-Smith, Wockhardt USA and Zydus.
“As noted, hundreds of generic drugs have been implicated nationwide. Each affected county or municipality can bring an action asserting overpayments for each applicable generic drug,” Getman explained. “The key question in formulating a lawsuit was determining for which generic drug(s) each county has overpaid, and whether each was direct or indirect purchaser of same.”
According to County Administrator Tim O’Hearn, the lawsuit was filed at no risk to the county, as Napoli Shkolnik is working on contingency basis that covers all costs associated with the lawsuit.
“By going forward with the litigation, the County Legislature hopes to lessen the burden to taxpayers and seeks to hold manufacturers responsible for any unlawful role in the high cost of generic drugs,” O’Hearn said.
Locally, along with Schuyler County, Chemung, Yates and Livingston Counties are acting as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Other municipalities in New York and elsewhere are part of the case as well. The case is currently scheduled to be heard in Federal District Court in eastern Pennsylvania.
In addition to the generics case, Schuyler County has been working with Napoli Shkolnik to prosecute a pending action against the manufacturers and distributers of prescription opiates for damages to the county arising out of the fraudulent and negligent marketing and distribution of opiates in and to the county. That case remains pending in state court.
A related trial, involving Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the New York State Attorney General’s Office, is now underway on Long Island against several companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis. The trial on Long Island will be used as a test for the claims made by Schuyler County and other municipalities in New York, as well as an indicator of what may lie ahead for the drug makers, distributors and pharmacies in other states.
A copy of the June 30 complaint is available here.
Monday, July 12, 2021
New COVID-19 Online Resource for Tenants and Attorneys in New York
TenantHelpNY.org is a new website with self-help resources on evictions and COVID-19 in New York State. 
Tenants can access Know Your Rights content and information on available legal aid, including:
• Plain language guides for tenants and the general public, developed in collaboration with grantees under the OAG initiative;The website also includes an Advocate Gateway with specialized resources for attorneys and other advocates assisting tenants during this time.
• A legal help directory to assist tenants in connecting with volunteer attorney programs in their region, and
• A list of Frequently Asked Questions about available COVID-19 housing protections
For a full announcement of the website launch, and other information, click here.
Monday, July 5, 2021
Second Amendment Legal Update: July, 2021
A monthly update, prepared for the Schuyler County Chapter of S.C.O.P.E. NY, a statewide 501(c)4 organization dedicated to preserving the 2nd Amendment rights for the residents of New York State.
For a complete PDF copy of this month's update, click here.
Monday, June 28, 2021
New York State Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act (DLSRA) in effect June 29
New York State has enacted the Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act (DLSRA), ending the practice of suspending a person’s driver’s license when they do not pay a traffic fine.
As of March 9, 2021, drivers no longer have their licenses suspended for unpaid traffic fines. As of June 29, those suspensions will be cleared from all records.
Suspensions are still permitted for unanswered tickets/missed hearings. However, defendants will be able to clear these suspensions by entering into payment plans, which also go into effect June 29.
Supporters of the new measure have argued that suspending driver’s licenses because of unpaid traffic fines "criminalizes poverty and perpetuates structural racism in the criminal legal system." Some critics of the statute have argued that the suspension of the license was a strong incentive for people to actually go clear their outstanding tickets.
A complete copy of the new law can be found here.
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