Judicial Reports: LexPress: Kaye Okay to Stay
By Lily Henning
Posted 11-10-06
New York's chief judge wants to delay her retirement, a look at why Lyme's a lemon, and a federal suit argues insurance coverage is too thin.
All state and federal courts closed today in observance of Veteran’s Day.
KAYE DELAY — TO STAY IN FRAY
Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye says she has unfinished goals and thinks she can achieve them with a reform-minded governor in office. Kaye, who has been chief judge since 1993, hopes to delay her departure by 20 months. In her 2006 State of the Judiciary address Kaye noted that since 1993 she had “urged simplifying the archaic structure of New York's courts, by far the most complex in America. I am discouraged, but not deterred, by the fact that my perennial call for this reform remains unheeded.” Kaye told Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer yesterday that she will seek reappointment, but faces mandatory retirement at the end of 2008 after she turns 70. As the New York Law Journal points out, the move will spare Spitzer from having to appoint a new chief judge during his first 90 days in office — and ensure he has the opportunity to make an appointment during his first term when Kaye retires. In any case, Spitzer has to fill Court of Appeals Judge Albert Rosenblatt seat ASAP — Rosenblatt is retiring at the end of the year.
LYME'S A LEMON
Really, the Daily News ’ lead on this story can’t be done justice in summary: “He blamed the Lyme, but he'll still do the time.” Brooklyn federal Judge Nina Gershon did not appear convinced yesterday when a Queens investment broker tried to demonstrate first hand how an “organic mental disorder” related to Lyme disease makes him, well, a little crazy. She sentenced him to five years in prison for defrauding clients of more than $7 million in a sophisticated scheme. When Gershon said she would not attribute “too much weight” to the disease, the defendant staged a small outburst. “Defense lawyer Gus Newman, without missing a beat, asked the judge to ignore the outburst, attributing it to his client's mental condition. "He does it all the time in my office," Newman said. Now he can do it behind bars.
PLEA DISPUTE
In an unusual defense move, an Albany public defender refused yesterday to enter a non-guilty plea for his 13-year-old client, who was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder. Lawyer Jerome Frost told Rensselaer County Judge Patrick McGrath that his client acted in self-defense and asked that the indictment be thrown out because he viewed it as flawed. McGrath told Frost he could submit written motions regarding the indictment, but Frost still refused to enter a plea, Bob Gardinier reports in the Albany Times Union. The judge entered a not-guilty plea for the young defendant.
SEEKING COVER
A New Jersey couple filed a lawsuit against insurer Aetna Inc. this week for refusing to cover the costs of their daughter’s anorexia treatments. The suit was filed in federal court in Newark against the Hartford-based company, which said the eating disorder was not “biologically based.” The AP article (via The New York Times) says insurers have long balked at covering mental illnesses that they say do not have a proven physiological basis, and some health advocates say it’s an example of the inequities in treatment for the mentally ill. The ill young woman has been hospitalized 101 days so far this year, but the insurer agreed to pay only for 35 inpatient days. The suit seeks class certification, estimating that hundreds of people in New Jersey have faced similar difficulties. The family says they had paid nearly $100,000 in medical bills.
Posted by Dirk on November 10, 2006 10:41 AM to Judicial Reports