Patrick F. Palladino achieved the dismissal of a federal Sherman Antitrust Act and racketeering lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Plaintiffs, business partners with one of the co-defendants, alleged that they were forced to litigate their Borough Park based commercial business dispute in the rabbinical courts, rather than in the state or federal courts, due to their being shunned from their community for their attempts to litigate in state court, and, that the rabbinical tribunals, local synagogues, and local rabbis, including the client, a rabbinical arbitrator presiding over Plaintiffs’ arbitration with one of the co-defendants, all violated anti-trust laws and conspired to form a criminal enterprise resulting in RICO violations, for their role in organizing an unofficial boycott of Plaintiffs’ business as a result of Plaintiffs’ failure to submit to the authority of the tribunals. After significant motion practice, including the successful withdrawal of the reference of this original adversary proceeding from the bankruptcy court, the Eastern District agreed with our arguments that the Plaintiffs are unable to maintain their claims for violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1962(c), and conspiracy to conduct racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1962(d), due to the client’s arbitral immunity, resulting in the dismissal of the action.

Practice Area: Co-Op, Condo & HOA Liability