MANIFEST COMMITMENT
As reported in The New York Times, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings has dismissed a suit — filed by state lawmakers and anti-gay marriage groups — that alleged Governor Paterson exceeded his authority when he issued an executive order requiring government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside of New York. "Furthermore," Billings wrote, "when partners manifest the commitment to their relationship and family, by solemnizing that commitment elsewhere, through one of life's most significant events, and come to New York, whether returning home or setting down roots, to carry on that commitment, nothing is more antithetical to family stability than requiring them to abandon that solemnized commitment."

TYCO PART TWO
Lawyers for Tyco International chief executive officer L. Dennis Kozlowski and chief financial officer Mark J. Swartz yesterday asked the Court of Appeals to grant the pair a new trial, the New York Law Journal reports. (In 2005, they were convicted of conspiracy and larceny charges in a trial presided over by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus.) At issue is extensive testimony given in their earlier trial by an attorney, David Boies, who Kozlowski and Swartz say should not have been allowed to testify that Swartz implicated Kozlowski's role in ordering tens of millions of "bonus payments" to be paid to them out of Tyco accounts. "Why is that such a devastating piece of evidence?" asked Judge Robert S. Smith "Isn't that what happens at a trial? ... If you have a superstar witness who has something relevant to say, you're allowed to put him on."

GET THE BOOTLEGGERS
The Second  Circuit has allowed New York City to continue with its lawsuit against online cigarette venders, who allegedly cheated the city out of excise and sales taxes. In 2006, Southern District Jugdge Deborah A. Batts dismissed the four lawsuits, but the Circuit found they constituted a viable RICO claim. Said Mayor Bloomberg: "We will continue moving forward vigorously against those who break the law and deprive the City of vitally needed tax dollars – especially when such lawbreakers also undercut public health. I once again urge Albany to take decisive action to crack down on cigarette bootlegging, beginning with collecting the state sales tax on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations."

"I'M IN THE WRONG BUSINESS"
An Indian woman from Long Island who, along with her husband, was convicted of enslaving and torturing two Indonesian housekeepers has been allowed to use part of her bail money to pay massive attorney fees — totaling some $250,000 — for her appeal. Upon hearing that the figure represented the "lower end" of prices Varsha Sabhnani had been quoted, Eastern District Judge Arthur Spatt said, "I'm in the wrong business."

GRISTEDES AND OVERTIME PAY
And Southern District Judge Paul Crotty has ruled that the supermarket chain Gristedes broke federal and state labor laws by failing to pay 400 current and former workers overtime wages. "Gristedes clearly sought to treat workers as 'hourly' for some purposes (i.e., docking them for hours not worked during the workweek), but 'salaried' for other purposes," Crotty wrote. The workers will reportedly seek $15 million in back pay and damages for salaried employees and $10 million for hourly employees.